14 DAY TRIAL // Eleven members of a West London-based Ukrainian gang were sentenced to prison today for stealing £4.5 million (over $6.8 million) in public money via tax fraud. The money were used to buy expensive goods, fast cars and rent luxury apartments.
According to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigators, the fraudsters used fake identities to file tax return claims in excess of £8 million ($12 million). Unfortunately, before the organization was able to identify the fraud, a total of £4.5 million were already paid.
Yuriy BROVARSKY, Krzsyzstof Damian GIERS, Artur Jan KARWICKI, Olegs PARKOV, Marek Stanislaw PIC, Oleg ZDYSHCHUK, Marek KRINICKI, Andrey KLYM, Artur NALECKI, Volodymyr PANCHAK and Olesya KOVBASA were sentenced in Southwark Crown Court. The prison sentences varyed between one year and nine months and six years and one month.
Authorities explain that the gang's members used fake passports and documents to create the 1,600 bogus identities that were used to submit the fraudulent Self Assessment tax returns. The fraudsters claimed the identities belonged to foreign immigrants who worked in the country.
"This was a calculated criminal plot motivated by greed, which deprived the nation’s public services of millions of pounds. We will not stop in our pursuit to bring those involved in this type of criminal activity before the courts and will work tirelessly to recover the proceeds of their crime for the public purse," Peter Millroy, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, commented.
Apparently the gang was well organized, with each member playing a role in the overall scheme. When HMRC searched their residences in July 2009, they found a certain type of identity forging documents at every location. Amongst the discovered materials were thousands of bank cards and National Insurance number application forms. The police also found a samurai sword, an air rifle, an air pistol and seized £360,000 in cash.
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