Car dealers who made £1.3 million in false VAT claims on more than 160 Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porches have been jailed.
Manoj Vyas (55), appeared at St Albans Crown Court and was given a four years imprisonment sentence. He was slo banned as acting as a director at Alltrade for eight years.
His brother, Paresh Vyas, was jailed for five years, while Sarju Popat (48), was sentenced to five-and-a half years in jailed, also banned from acting as a director for eight years.
The Vyas brothers had helped Popat falsely claim back a large amount of money of tax on each sale of second hand Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porches, each worth up to £200,000 from 2009-2011.
Manoj Vyas, who was the director of Alltrade had charged the full VAT on his sales invoices, which ultimately resulted in the purchasing company paying the full amount to Alltrade. Because the purchasing company had an invoice invoice which showed VAT from Alltrade, they managed to reclaim the VAT they had paid to the company from HMRC. However, Alltrade had not declared this VAT to HMRC as they declared the VAT only on the profit.
These luxurious cars were predominantly sold to Popat, who was an equal and active participant in this fraud. He used to tell the brothers about the exact make, model and specification of cars he needed.
Popat would go on to sell the cars to an associate in Malaysia, as right-hand drive cars are highly sought after there. He would sell the vehicles VAT free for export, at below the market value.
Alltrade sold over 160 vehicles and they included the full VAT charge in their invoices. They dodged a total of £1,313,500 during this scam.
The assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC stated, “This was a blatant attack on the tax system. Their only aim was to line their pockets at the expense of the taxpayer. These three took away more than a million pounds from vital public services through this fraud and we will aim to recoup the proceeds of their crime. Tax crime does not pay.”
