|
Almost
£1m which should have gone to HM Revenue and Customs was
shared out between members of a group of fraudsters,
headed by Norfolk gangmaster Peter Wing.
Norwich Crown Court heard that over a three-year period
false documents were produced by Wing, 53, who was company
secretary of Swaffham-based Brook Staffhire, and also
Robert Peace, Grant Hudson and Michael Bignell.
Peace, Hudson and Bignell were directors of other
recruitment companies and between them they “dishonestly
manipulated” the tax system in relation to employing
hundreds of Portuguese and Eastern European workers.
The court was told Wing - the “driving force behind the
fraud” - also cheated the Revenue out of £1m in PAYE
and National Insurance payments which had been deducted
from workers' wages.
Wing has been involved with running a string of businesses
and organisations in the town, including Swaffham
Motorsports, the Norfolk Portuguese Club, the White Hart
and the Goldmine as well as serving as chairman of the
town's football club.
Wing, 53, of Meadow Road, Narborough, has admitted
conspiracy to cheat the Revenue out of PAYE and National
Insurance and has asked for a further offence of
conspiracy to cheat the Revenue out of VAT to be taken
into account. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Peace, 51, of Thurnscoe, Rotherham, who was a director of
1st Move Recruitment and Worldforce UK (Personnel), was
jailed for 30 months and disqualified from being a company
director for five years.
Hudson, 49, of Tintwistle, Glossop, was a director of Rock
Recruitment and 1st Move Recruitment, and he was jailed
for 15 months and disqualified for three years.
They both admitted conspiracy to cheat the Revenue out of
VAT. A charge of conspiracy involving PAYE was ordered to
lie on the file.
Amanda Gilding, 35, of The Oaklands, Swaffham, was a
director and office manager of Brook Management and
falsified three payroll records in September 2005.
She admitted one count of false accounting and had two
similar offences taken into consideration.
The court was told Gilding had “been suspicious” of
wrong doing - and “the suspicion hardened to
knowledge.”
Gilding was ordered to do 120 hours' community service and
ordered to pay £250 costs and disqualified from being a
director for 18 months.
Bignell, 57, of Dalton Lane, Rotherham, was a director of
Worldforce UK and Worldforce UK (Personnel). He also
admitted conspiracy to defraud VAT and will be sentenced
at a later date.
After the case Det Con Geoff Peck, of Norfolk Police's
economic crime unit, who led the three-year investigation,
said: “I am very pleased with the results and they
reflect the individuals' participation in the fraud.
“These offences, on the surface, appear to be strictly
Revenue related but one must look at the bigger picture.
"The real victims are those lowly-paid migrant
workers who are essential to the local economy.
"They had no reason to believe the that deductions
from their wages were going anywhere else apart from the
Revenue and that those deductions gave them some degree of
potential benefits in the event of being laid-off, which
is always like in this type of seasonal work."
Judge Alisdair Darroch told the defendants: “This was a
substantial fraud going on for some time. Frauds on the
Revenue effects everyone and taxpayers are rightly
affronted when others cheat the system.”
John Anderson, prosecuting, said: “The reality was that
the supposed supply of temporary staff from the supply
companies to Brook Staffhire was a sham.”
Martin Evans, representing Gilding, said: “Her entire
criminal conduct was within a single week and was a long
time after the fraud committed by others had begun. She
accepts she became suspicious over time and it hardened at
the end to knowledge.”
He said Wing had been the “driving force behind the
fraud.”
Colin Wells, for Hudson, said he was not a “prime
mover” and had been “financially ruined” and made
bankrupt by the case.
Peace's counsel Patrick Palmer said the ex-miner had been
recruited to the conspiracy and was not the main organiser
and had not enjoyed high living from the fraud.
After the case, Andy Armitt, from HMRC's Labour Provider
Unit said: "These criminals have systematically
manipulated the tax system on a major scale, taking
advantage of their hundreds of vulnerable employees.”
Source
: Norfolk Eastern Daily Press - Norwich, England, UK, dated
13/10/2008
|
