A BUSINESSMAN who became an overnight millionaire through a tax scam has been jailed for seven years.
Amer Munir swindled more than é6m from the Customs & Excise by doctoring figures on a VAT form.
He then laundered money through buying luxury cars and property.
Munir, who at one time claimed he was earning only é16,000 a year, spent more than é800,000 on a detached house in Hale, where his neighbours included soccer stars.
The 30-year-old father-of-two also bought a é97,500 Ferrari 360 Spider and a Porsche 911 Turbo which cost nearly é92,000 and paid another é1.4m to buy and develop building land near Huddersfield.
Jailing him at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Anthony Gee said the fraud was inspired by greed and told him: "You are a family man, described as a devoted husband and father, but it is clear to me that only custody can possibly be justified to deter others who may be minded to act in this way in the future."
A jury convicted him of cheating the Revenue out of more than é6m and five charges of money-laundering. He was cleared of using fraud money to buy a Bentley for é158,000 and another Porsche for more than é100,000.
Charges
The prosecution also claimed he paid more than é600,000 for two apartments at No 1 Deansgate, but the jury could not agree on those charges, which were allowed to lie on the file.
Munir's 28-year-old wife Hamera Khan collapsed after the jury cleared her of any involvement in the money-laundering.
During the four-week trial, the court heard the fraud began after Munir and his father, who is believed to be in Pakistan, set up a company called Talkland Telecom Limited in March 2000.
The business involved buying and selling mobile phones on a wholesale basis and eventually, it was run from a unit at Broughton Trade Centre, in Salford.
In just a few weeks, between September and November 2001, the company had a turnover of more than é40m after buying consignments of mobile phones from EC countries.
The deals were exempt from VAT to encourage free trade between European Union businesses, but when the phones were sold in Britain, VAT of 17.5 per cent should have been added and later declared as being payable to the Revenue.
But the prosecution said figures on the VAT form were doctored and in a few weeks, vast numbers of phones went through Munir's company and he kept more than é6m in extra `profit' which should have been paid to the Revenue.
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This has been going on for years and its just the tip of the iceburg ? its time to start to recoup the money back from these companys ? the taxman needs to put more effort into these scams ,because every pound that is stolen is a pound less to buy a hospital or a school ?
why is always someone who is a relative 'guest' in this country that does this sort of thing.
dave, ringway you are being to polite ? Just goes to show we we have been conditioned to watch how we say/print things??We are all so very scared of being branded racist?? I also wish i could say what i mean?it just seems to be a massive amount of ""Foreign"" people doing scams in britain "phones,computers,cheque,and all the other scams"
Dave - How is someone who was born and raised here a "guest" - why don't you say what you really mean.
The tax man should clearly now be in a position to sell these person's property and sieze all other assets. They should also investigate all surrounding assests which have been purchased in recent times, wiether registered to this person or any other family member. They should gain access to the sorce of the finance which has been optained from to purchase these properties and sports cars. Should this not take place it allows other wouldbe criminals to fruad the taxman for millions and serve only meare 3years in prison which is supported by our taxes that this person actaully stole. THIS PERSON AND HIS ACCOMPLISHERS SHOULD BE MADE AN EXAMPLE OF SO THAT OTHERS THINK TWICE OF STELLING OUR MONEY WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN USED IN HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS, CHARITY CAUSES AND THE NEEDY.
Criminals who put life into danger should be sent into custody i.e. murderers, rapists, gangsters, terrorists etc; As they are the true menaces to the society. Our dearly loved family members are in danger with those very criminals walking the streets not people like Munir. Prisons are full! Do they need to cater for 'gone off the rail businessmen' or for assault motivated barbaric criminals?
Wealth extracted via illegitimate means should definitely be confiscated; however custody sentencing for 7 years is rather harsh for a â€oedevoted father of twoâ€. What will that prove?
Can more than £6m really be acquired by doctoring VAT forms? What does that say about the system? Simply improve the system which leaves no loop holes for conartists!
What do you mean by guest or foreigners?
Even this fraudulent man was born here in the UK so is as British as any of us lot (you or me).
Hence no one should stereo type British Asians just on the stupid acts of Amer Munir.
He is a bad apple in our otherwise law abiding communities.
I like many millions of other British Asians have studied and have worked hard, and paid all our dues eg. tax and NI and we will continue to do so.
So less of the generalizing and take note of the good individuals, of which there are many millions. (If it wasn't for us Asian 'foreigners' or 'guests' - you wouldn't have an NHS today. (Look up the details if necessary about Asian doctors working hard within the NHS)
not on just to get a soft sentence for all that money ,he would be laughing all the way to jail ,and. would be running the jail him self with plenty of money to come to
fair enough i agree that this man was in the wrong and im positive he knows himself.. however people calling this man a guest!! please don't forget how much the asian community contributes to the overall strength of the british pound therefore for all you narrow minded people out there thinking that "ethnic" people bring nothing but trouble think again.. i'm more than sure if a white englishman seen the same scam available for him to expose and would pocket all that money i'm more than sure he would.
this country's law has become a joke why dont we make it even funnier and let all the murderers, peodaphiles, rapists and drug dealers out and get all the business men who have avoided the greedy tax man from getting his hands on their money inside and locked up for 7 seven years. Maybe then we'll all sleep at night!!!! What this man did was stupid but the system is even more stupid for letting a scam like this to take place. Locking this man up will not deter others from avoiding paying tax just the same way locking Murderers up doesnt prevent murders from taking place. If there was any intelligence in this county's system, efforts would be concentrated on confiscating the 6m! not wasting more money on prison costs which results in nothing but the tax payers having to contribute towards keeping this man in jail! no wonder people will do what they can to get away from the greedy tax man! Get this man out out jail and have him do something constrctive! use the money spent on keeping him inside towards the NHS or Education! confiscate the £6m that was foolishly able to slip through the net and concentrate on putting efforts in place to avoid this problem happening again!!!
gareth davis u make a fine point, i absoloutley agree.. it is absoloutley pointless keeping this man in jail..it's just going 2 cost tax payers more money to keep kim in prison why not make him do something more constructive?? the system in this country at the momment is a joke minimum wage £4.80 an hour or something like that and your average house price £150,000 absolute joke.. we shouldnt be surprised that anybody is trying to scam the system
I know this man to be very moral , totally commited to his religion and his family. He was young and stupid and got caught up in a scam run by people who are still free to carry on with their illegal dealings. He was basically a fall guy.I dont condone what he did but a prison sentence serves no purpose, confiscation of all proceeds of the fraud together with a job serving the community for a number of years would be punishment enough surely. I agree that prison is only for people who provide a danger to the public.
In my research into VAT frauds between 1995 to 2002 either using computer chips or mobile phones there are common links. HM Customs & Excise always seems satisfied with getting the minor players. How can such massive frauds continually take place? The Belgian government believes 8 billion was lost in 2006 to the UK government who deny it but our government doesn't usually tell the truth. If this is the case, why aren't HM Customs & Excise investigators sacked for being complete idiots? Why isn't the government panicking? Are the rumours true that the government is secretly taking VAT money out of the country for various purposes and uses its agents to set up people in such frauds. A Belgian investigator remarked in a national newspaper all EU fraud stems from the UK. It makes one think who could be the UK mastermind with the billions and billions of our hard earned cash stashed away? So much money to launder!
hahahahaha!!!! every1 is hating on him but hes the happy 1 here hes gna b verry happy wiv all this money.. hes the clever 1 not u u haters hahahaha hes rolling in money
This man may be totally committed, but I also know he was very committed in this swindle too. He was not the scapegoat or fall guy and part of a larger ring.
He was whistle blown from my knowledge.
Crime doesnt pay. I hear the taxman is due to see him soon about his assets.
sohail if what your saying is correct and this man was really whistle blown then i think its the customs officers who should be locked up for seven years for not being able to do their job properly and realise themselves that theres something wrong!!
Further to your comments Sohail regarding whistle blown etc. I'm very sure that the Crown Court would not of even entertained such a complex case if there was no crime committed. There are other people who feel that hash justice has been served with a 6 year jail sentence, but it keeps in line with other cases over the last few years. It is a very blunt warning from the Crown and Customs that they will nolonger standby and watch this sort of crime take place.
I think we see the victim in this crime as the Goverments/VAT office, but that money taken is our money. It really does goes towards education, Health and Transport, but as we dont feel the loss personally it does not make it any less of a crime.
No one person/Group can decide how much money they would like to have from the Goverments/VAT coffers !! It just not RIGHT.