A company director from Knightsbridge who claimed to trade in designer jeans from the USA has been jailed for five years after being found guilty of attempting to steal £1 million in tax.
Harrow and Oxford educated Sheel Khemka used false names and fake invoices to claim he was selling millions of pounds worth of expensive designer jeans in a crime described as “a sophisticated and well-planned fraud”.
The 42-year-old, from Cadogan Place, set up 12 companies and used them to front his scam. In fact, he only made three importations, worth £24,000, using the same jeans each time he attempted to claim VAT back from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
He was found guilty by unanimous verdict at Croydon Crown Court on May 11 and jailed for five years. He was also banned from operating as a company director for seven years, and the money he fraudulently obtained has since been paid back.
Khemka submitted 12 VAT repayment claims between May and October 2009, receiving almost £498,000 in refunds. A further 11 claims totalling more than £500,000, submitted during 2009, were not paid out by HMRC.
Khemka located his sham business premises in London and across various English counties, often renting office and warehouse space at short notice just before a visit by HMRC to check the repayment claims.
The small quantity of designer jeans actually purchased from the United States were moved from business to business, with new packaging and labels, in an attempt to show that they had just been imported.
The fraud was uncovered after investigators became suspicious about his trading activity and VAT claims. He was arrested in London in November 2011 and later charged with cheating the public revenue.
