Ex-President of tax body jailed for fraud must repay £5m
A jailed ex-president of the Association of Taxation Technicians who was imprisoned for a major pension scheme tax fraud has been told to pay back £5.1 million – or face another decade behind bars.
Andrew Meeson and fellow company director Peter Bradley, who was sent to prison last year for the same crime, must hand over the money to the taxman, HM Revenue and Customs said today.
If they don't pay the money back within six months they will have to serve a further ten years in jail. Even after their term served they will still owe the money.
Confiscation proceedings were heard at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday. Meeson was ordered to repay £1,642,205.10 and Bradley £3,458,002.29.
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The confiscation followed a financial investigation by HM Revenue and Customs into the assets of the men, who were each sentenced to eight and a half years in jail in March 2013.
HMRC investigators found that between June 2007 and March 2010 the pair received income tax repayments amounting to £5 million.
The two claimed that this was the refund due on £20 million of contributions, pension scheme members had made. The investigators found these contributions did not exist.
The Pensions Regulator took action to suspend Tudor Capital Management Ltd from acting as trustees for pension trust schemes as the case was investigated.
The pair were arrested in 2010 in dawn raids carried out by HMRC officers investigating the multi-million pound fraud. The raids took place at residential and business premises in the West Midlands and Derby.
HMRC said in a statement: "Meeson and Bradley, both from Wolverhampton, had conspired to receive £5 million in fraudulent income tax repayments via their company, Tudor Capital Management Limited.
"The pair claimed that the repayments were due on pension contributions of £25 million made by scheme members, but
HMRC investigators found that these contributions did not exist."
Adrian Farley, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: "Meeson and Bradley committed blatant theft, exploiting their positions of trust and authority.
"Our
priority is to track down tax fraudsters and to confiscate their ill-gotten gains. If they do not pay up, they face a substantial additional prison sentence – and they will still owe the money on release."
Confiscation proceedings to reclaim the crime profits are underway, he added.