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Property developer handed 11 year ban for £275k VAT fraud

Owain Thomas
Written By:
Posted:
October 17, 2017
Updated:
October 17, 2017

A Scottish property developer has been banned from being a director of a business for 11 years after admitting fraudulently reclaiming £275,000 of VAT to keep her business afloat.

Avril Elliott of Edinburgh pleaded guilty to the charges brought by HM Revenue and Customs in July 2016 and was sentenced to two years in jail a month later.

Her Scothouses Ltd business was wound up with HMRC being the sole creditor in respect of the VAT reclaim. Elliott had resigned as director on 24 June 2014 but the monies owed to HMRC were due entirely to her fraud.

The 11-year disqualification prevents her managing or controlling a company without leave of the court until 2028.

Insolvency Service head of company investigation Robert Clarke said: “The public can be assured that where there have been abuses of public finance provisions which result in losses of this type, the Insolvency Service will investigate the conduct of the parties involved.

“Action will be taken to remove them from the corporate trading environment for a lengthy period.”

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