Every month Churchill Tax cover a range of stories based on HMRC tax fraud investigation, educating our readers on the lasting consequences of committing offences. The subject of this article is a former Magistrate and his brother who committed tax fraud. The two individuals were instructed to repay a total of ??443,190 or face a prison sentence.
In 2015 Zaher Somani was sentenced to prison for money laundering and tax fraud following a HMR tax fraud investigation. The investigation discovered that he had been dishonest about his income and concealed profits made from two taxi companies in offshore bank accounts. His brother and other family members also received sentencing for assisting in the conspiracy.
Zaher was a serving Magistrate in Loughborough. Following on from the investigation, Zaher was instructed to repay a sum of ??254,375 within a three month period in addition to costs of ??54,000 or be sentenced to another two years in prison.
Somani was the owner of two taxi firms with a total of 30 vehicles available for private hire. On self assessment tax returns, he lied about his earnings and his family members helped him conceal profits from the company. Property was purchased in Turkey, Canada and Morocco and cash was also placed into offshore bank accounts in multiple locations around the world. Profits were shared with significant sums of money being spent on private schooling, property and gambling.
HMRC take this type of tax fraud very seriously and they will pursue tax investigations and prosecute those found to be avoiding or evading tax in any way.
This post was posted in: HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC Unannounced Visits, Tax Fraud Investigation | Be the first to comment