Omar Bassam, Paul Burke, Nicholas Skidmore and David Withers controlled a network of companies, bank accounts and property in the UK and the Cayman Islands.
The first stage of the frauds involved the importation of computer memory modules into the UK under false invoices. The components were undervalued by up to 1,000%- the value of one consignment was declared as $2,000 where the true value was nearly $1 million.
In the second stage, the computer dealers manufactured false invoices to support massive VAT reclaims to which they were not entitled. To add credibility to the invoices, they even “hijacked” the details and VAT number of Compaq Computers.
The Customs’ investigation started in Birmingham and continued in the US, Germany and the Republic of Ireland. Proceedings are currently pending in the US against the fraudsters’ local suppliers.
Financial investigations showed more than £85 million passing through just one bank account between May 1998 and January 1999. The assets of the four computer dealers have been seized by the customs. One of the fraudsters, Withers, has also pleaded guilty to an associated money laundering offence.
Bassam was sentenced to 18 months plus an additional 3 years if he fails to pay nearly £800,000 compensation. Burke was sentenced to 3 years on each of two charges to run concurrently with an additional 2 years if he fails to pay £440,000 compensation. Skidmore was sentenced to 7 years on each of four charges to run concurrently with an additional 2 years if he fails to pay compensation of £643,000.
Withers was sentenced to 6 years on each of two charges to run concurrently plus 1 year for the money laundering charge to run consecutively plus an additional 2 years if he fails to pay compensation of £205,000.