SHIPSTON man Peter Kevin Glover, aged 52, of Furze Hill Road, has been sent to prison for five years for his part in an £85million VAT fraud involving nearly 100 mobile phone traders.
He was one of five men jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for the "missing trader" fraud involving fictitious trading across the North West, Midlands, Republic of Ireland and Europe.
The trial followed a five-year investigation by Revenue and Customs officers.
Peter Hollier, head of criminal investigation in the North West for HMRC, said: "This was organised fraud on a massive scale perpetrated by criminals all bent on making fast and easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer. The sentence sends out a clear message to others who may contemplate such criminal activity."
Investigations began in 2000 and involved breaking the audit trail of 98 businesses based in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. The fraudsters were directors and executives of seven companies.
Glover was the director of Cellphone Europe BV, a company based in Brussels, Belgium, although its entire mobile phone trade was conducted from Whitley Bay, Tyneside, where he previously lived.
The phones were purportedly imported into the UK VAT free by various companies set up by the fraudsters, who then sold the phones on, charging VAT that was never paid over to Revenue and Customs. These companies then went missing. The phones were then sold down the line to various buffer traders before being exported again often to be repurchased by the original companies at a trading loss.
In sentencing, Judge Swift said: "This was a conspiracy which cost the taxpayer a colossal sum of money. It was fraud on a vast scale."
Confiscation proceedings are being pursued to strip the guilty men of their assets, illegally derived from the proceeds of the fraud.
As well as his prison sentence, Glover was disqualified as a director for five years.
