Tax dodgers escape from justice with £844 million of taxpayer’s money.
The normal UK tax payer pays it’s fair share of income tax and so should everyone else.
UK tax authorities have only caught 7 of their 30 most wanted tax evaders in the last 2 years. And the government have just added 5 more individuals to the list!
In 2012, for the first time, HMRC began a public campaign to capture known fugitives. It drew many comparisons with the FBI in America. They started by identifying 20 individuals who had fled the country leaving debts of hundreds of thousands of pounds. In 2013, 10 more names were added to this list.
Meet 3 of the 5 new additions the government have just added to the most wanted list.
Mr Khezr – sentenced to 6 years for selling non-UK duty paid cigarettes.
Mr Edwards – was charged with involvement in an alleged VAT fraud.
Mr Natarajan – received a 6 year sentence for smuggling garlic into the UK declared as ginger.
HMRC says that there have been 990 prosecutions in the last year. They also say that the public appeal has led to more information about alleged offenders and that they now know where 16 others actually are. HMRC also state that the cumulative cost of frauds committed in the UK is more than £844 million!
Unfortunately only one third of the people on this ‘most wanted’ list have actually been forced to carry out their punishment. For example, here are 3 known fugitives who have escaped justice to date.
Mr Sabin received a conviction for selling a large quantity of illegal cigarettes in the North East.
Magdalena Ferkova was convicted of tax credit and child benefit fraud and was returned to the Czech Republic.
Michael Fearon ran away to the Republic of Ireland during his trial for involvement with smuggling nearly 8.4 million cigarettes into the UK.
The response from HMRC’s Director General of Enforcement and Compliance, Jennie Granger, feels a little unconvincing in the light of these facts, “…the success of our campaign means that those on the run should know that HMRC will relentlessly pursue them”.
