A British man who used the proceeds of a £673,000 VAT fraud to finance his ‘extravagant Monaco lifestyle of luxury apartments and classic cars’ has been jailed for four years.
HMRC said William Batchelor (pictured right), aged 61, formerly of Monte Carlo, was arrested as he was about to leave the UK during an HMRC investigation. He had learnt that HMRC was investigating fraudulent VAT repayment claims made between 2008 and 2010 in relation to his property company JCV Properties Ltd.
‘Croydon Crown Court heard that after an HMRC investigation began, Batchelor confessed to the fraud to his accountant, who was not involved in the fraud. This involved a number of false VAT repayment claims, involving the creation of bogus invoices claiming to be for the purchase of land,’ HMRC said in a press release.
Martin Brown, Assistant Director, HMRC Criminal Investigation said: ‘William Batchelor used false invoices to cheat honest taxpayers out of £673,000. He used the proceeds of that crime to fund his Monaco lifestyle which included a vintage Mercedes car worth over £100,000. HMRC was determined that he should remain in the UK to face our investigation. Anyone tempted to cheat the VAT system should beware; we are investing more time and resources than ever to identify tax cheats and bring them to justice.’
Batchelor gave an address in Burrage Road, London SE18 while awaiting sentence, HMRC added. Confiscation action to recover the proceeds of his crimes is now underway.
