Man jailed over £2.7m VAT fraud

Roderick Roy admitted four counts of cheating the revenue

A businessman from Suffolk has been jailed for three and a half years after admitting fraudulently claiming £2.7m in false VAT repayment.

Roderick Chisholm Roy, 59, of Glevering Mill, Wickham Market, set up a complex fraud using aliases, even claiming at one stage that one of them had died.

At Croydon Crown Court, Roy admitted four counts of cheating the revenue and one of acquiring criminal property.

The scheme was foiled when customs staff looked into one of his firms.

After the case HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said Roy had forged numerous documents, had several bogus companies and opened multiple bank accounts to siphon off millions of pounds of fraudulent VAT repayments.

Robert Gray, assistant director HMRC Criminal Investigation Directorate London, said: "Today's sentence is the result of a lengthy investigation by officers who work tirelessly and diligently, fighting criminal attacks on the tax system."

A bearded Roderick Roy as seen in one of his fake passports

During the investigation HMRC officers used the latest techniques to catch the fraudster.

Officers were able to link documents found at Roy's house to all the aliases.

Facial mapping technology identified Roy from photographs on forged documents which he used to open bank accounts and set up companies.

The HMRC spokeswoman said the three main companies used in the fraud claimed to supply badges and buckles to medical and military establishments overseas.

In reality no goods existed and the paperwork submitted was forged enabling them to claim back millions of pounds in VAT in respect of false exports, she said.