Six arrested over £4m tax fraud

Four men and two women have been arrested after raids in Wales, England and the Netherlands in an investigation into alleged tax frauds worth £4m.

Tax officers said they visited homes and businesses in Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Northampton, and one address in the Netherlands.

Revenue and Customs teams say the suspected offences include VAT, income and corporation tax evasion.

All six people have been released on bail while inquiries continue.

Officers removed business records and computers following searches at a residential property in Llandaff, Cardiff, where a 65-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman were arrested.

Evidence was also collected at a business and a home in the Chepstow area of Monmouthshire, and a property in the Shirenewtown area.

A 56-year-old man and a woman, 47, were arrested as part of those investigations.

Two other men, aged 66 and 47, were questioned following raids at properties - two residential and one business - in Northampton. No arrests were made following the search in the Netherlands.

Andrew Pavlinic of HM Revenue & Customs said: "We take very seriously our investigations into tax evasion, fraud, and the eventual laundering of the profits of these crimes.

"Those involved in this type of activity give themselves an advantage over those businesses that play by the rules, and that simply isn't fair."