Accountancy Magazine
Accountant faces £16m VAT fraud charge
Not guilty plea to part in building scam
22 October 2009
An accountant has pleaded not guilty to involvement in a £16m VAT fraud.
Stewart Collins, 52, of Hornchurch, Essex, denied at Isleworth Crown Court that he had been involved in a scam to which two others had pleaded guilty. They were named as Costas Sophocleous of Walthamstow and Philip Foster of Leyton.
It is alleged that over a period of 10 years more than £16m was fraudulently claimed in VAT in respect of fake building companies.
Referring to the two who have pleaded guilty, prosecutor Richard Karey-Hughes said: ‘Those two men claimed massive payments of VAT from the taxman, to which they are not entitled. And when I say massive amounts, we are talking in excess of £16m.'
The case concerns a building company set up by Sophocleous, Eastway Construction, which pretended to be a firm specialising in new housing developments.
New properties are exempt from VAT payments when they are sold on, meaning the conman would not pay tax out but could claim it for services and purchases for them, though none were ever built.
Stewart Collins, 52, of Hornchurch, Essex, denied at Isleworth Crown Court that he had been involved in a scam to which two others had pleaded guilty. They were named as Costas Sophocleous of Walthamstow and Philip Foster of Leyton.
It is alleged that over a period of 10 years more than £16m was fraudulently claimed in VAT in respect of fake building companies.
Referring to the two who have pleaded guilty, prosecutor Richard Karey-Hughes said: ‘Those two men claimed massive payments of VAT from the taxman, to which they are not entitled. And when I say massive amounts, we are talking in excess of £16m.'
The case concerns a building company set up by Sophocleous, Eastway Construction, which pretended to be a firm specialising in new housing developments.
New properties are exempt from VAT payments when they are sold on, meaning the conman would not pay tax out but could claim it for services and purchases for them, though none were ever built.
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