14 DAY TRIAL // Two Ukrainian nationals have been sentenced to jail in UK after instrumenting a £3.2 million fraud that involved filing fake tax refund claims using stolen identities.
One of the two men, Nikola Novakovic, 34, from North London, was working as a local business manager at a bank, a position which according to prosecutors he abused to further his criminal goals.
Together with two co-nationals, Oleg Rozputnii, 28, an illegal immigrant, and Dmytro Shepel, 26, he created 1,050 fictitious taxpayers on the Income Tax Self Assessment system using personal information stolen via computer malware.
The fraudsters filed fraudulent tax refunds claims and received the funds through a network of fake accounts set up with Novakovic's help.
According to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), UK's taxation authority, between January 2008 and September 2010 the gang stole £3.2m in this manner.
The fraudsters used the illegally obtained funds to finance their expensive lifestyles and buy luxury cars including Porches, Mercedeses and Jaguars. Some of the profits were also transferred to Ukraine.
"These men ran an audacious scam stealing millions of pounds. They set up hundreds of false bank accounts using viruses to hack into personal computers to gain information.
"[...] HMRC takes tax fraud extremely seriously and we will recover any financial gain from this criminal activity," said Joe Rawbone, assistant director of HMRC Criminal Investigation.
Rozputnii and Novakovic pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue in March and were sentenced to 45 and 39 months in jail, respectively.
Dmytro Shepel, received a three and a half years prison sentence in August 2010. Both him and Rozputnii will be deported back to Ukraine upon release.
It seems that tax refund fraud is common amongst Ukrainian criminals. Last year, UK authorities dismantled an 11-members-strong Ukrainian gang based out of West London, responsible for stealing £4.5 million in a similar way.