World News | Indian designer clothing scam mastermind jailed in UK

LONDON, 25th May (PTI) – A mastermind of a fake designer clothing scam of Indian origin has been charged with trying to steal around £97m with the help of a criminal gang through VAT refund claims on bogus exports of textiles and mobile phones. . He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the UK on Thursday for tax fraud.

Arif Patel, a 55-year-old sock maker, was last month identified by Britain’s tax office as one of the country’s biggest ever “merry-go-round” tax frauds.

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Patel was found guilty of false accounting, conspiracy to defraud public revenue, continuing to sell counterfeit clothing and money laundering following a 14-week trial at Chester Crown Court.

“Arif Patel lives a lavish lifestyle at the expense of most law-abiding people. Tax crimes are not without victims and crooks like this pair steal money that funds the NHS [National Health Service] and other vital public services we all depend on.

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Patel and his gang imported and sold fake clothes worth at least £50m if they were genuine, and the proceeds were used to buy properties in Preston, northern England, and London through offshore bank accounts.

Co-accused Mohamed Jaffar Ali, 58, from Dubai, who was also convicted of conspiracy to defraud HMRC and money laundering, was also sentenced to 11 years in jail on Friday.

“Arif Patel and Mohamed Jaffar Ali were at the heart of one of the largest carousel tax frauds this country has ever seen and today’s sentencing recognizes the seriousness of their crimes,” said Eamonn O’Neill, Assistant Commissioner of the Fraud Investigation Unit at HM Revenue & Customs General Administration.

After six trials between 2011 and 2023, a total of 26 members of the criminal empire were convicted and sentenced for a total of 147 years and seven months, the HM Revenue Department said. More than £78m of the gang’s assets have been frozen and the process of recovering the proceeds of crime is underway.

Andrew Fox, senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Patel was sentenced in absentia as he remained in Dubai throughout the trial.”

“CPS will now proceed with forfeiture proceedings against the accused to prevent them from enjoying the benefits of their criminal enterprise,” he said.

HMRC said Patel’s criminal enterprise relied on “dozens of deputies” across the UK, including professional enablers. It involved two chartered accountants from a Preston firm: Anil Hindocha, 69, from Preston, and Yogesh Patel, 66, from Aylesbury.

Previously, Hindocha was jailed for 12 years and 10 months in 2014 for false accounting, conspiracy to defraud tax authorities and money laundering. Yogesh Patel was jailed for five years and seven months for the same offence.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)