On Thursday 4th January, Southall businessman, Billa Dhand, 56, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court after allegedly making over £150,000 in fake VAT claims. He pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud.
Billa Dhand, of Hartington Road in Southall, who delivered fruits and vegetables to major supermarket chains through his company Dysan Fresh Ltd, allegedly created several fake invoices over the last ten years.
It is alleged that Dhand committed fraud in order to hide VAT receipts and reclaim VAT payments for the total of £153,764.84 between the period of 2006 and 2016.
Judge Korner also order Dhand to do 250 hours of unpaid community work. While sentencing, Judge Korner stated, “This was an extremely serious offence. HMRC has to operate on trust that people will comply with the law and pay the tax owing. You failed to do so. It was a carefully planned deliberate fraud.”
Assistant director of the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, Mark Cox said, “Dhand thought he was above the law and could get away with cheating the system. He was wrong and is now paying the price for his greed. Tax cheats take money from the public services we all rely on. Anyone with information about tax fraud can contact our hotline on 0800 788 887.”
