court case

Two directors of Wisbech-based haulage firm HL & RV Anderson have been sentenced after being found guilty of committing a £130,000 tax fraud.

Cambridge Crown Court heard that between July 2012 and June 2015 Barry Anderson and Christopher Alecock told employees that National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and income tax totalling £58,968.87 had been deducted from their wages, when in reality these deductions had not been made.

An HMRC investigation also revealed that both Alecock and Anderson had used a deregistered VAT number on invoices enabling them to steal £68,733 of VAT payments and hide their fraud.

Adam Kingsgate, assistant director at HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “Alecock and Anderson didn’t spare a thought for their employees, customers or the honest majority of taxpayers they were stealing from.

“As an accountant, Alecock knew what his responsibilities were, but he chose to ignore them. Both Alecock and Anderson stole money that is needed to fund our vital public services.”

Alecock and Anderson were found guilty of two counts of cheating the public revenue and were sentenced to three years in prison and 30 months in prison respectively. HMRC said it is looking to recover the proceeds of the fraud.

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