A network of corrupt company directors has been jailed for more than 70 years after they were caught planning an elaborate multi-million-pound tax fraud during clandestine meetings.
The company at the heart of the fraud, Winnington Networks Ltd (WNL), deliberately understated how much VAT was owed to HMRC between 2011 and 2014.
Key evidence was secured when WNL’s financial director, Neil Pursell, 60, and key players, were caught conspiring at two hotel meetings held in Manchester and Birmingham in late 2013.
At each meeting, the men openly discussed the fraud; the mechanics and how they could just “invent the numbers” to falsely offset their output VAT claims.
Three earlier trials have already resulted in prison sentences of more than 62 years and director disqualifications of more than 100 years.
The fraud, which was described by trial Judge Dafna Spiro as “complex and highly sophisticated” saw WNL generating VAT by creating price drops on metals and electrical items they sold via a contrived chain of business transactions outside the UK.
After adding VAT back on to items and selling them at competitive rates to real customers in the UK, Winnington set about offsetting the VAT they had created.
They did this by falsely claiming they had sold VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol or telecommunications/internet airtime) to UK suppliers.
