Wolverhampton tax fraudsters ordered to pay back £5.1m

Two company directors from Wolverhampton who were both jailed for a pension scheme tax fraud have been ordered to pay back more than £5 million.

Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley, were each sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in March 2013 for conspiring to receive £5 million in fraudulent income tax repayments via their company, Tudor Capital Management Limited.

Meeson had served as president of the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) - a professional body of tax advisors - prior to his arrest.

Following confiscation proceedings at Birmingham Crown Court on September 29, the men were ordered to repay £5.1 million within six months or serve a further 10 years in jail.

The ruling follows a financial investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into the assets of the men.

The pair had been arrested in dawn raids in 2010 after HMRC investigators found that between June 2007 and March 2010 they received income tax repayments of £5 million.

They claimed it was the refund due on £20 million of contributions made by pension scheme members, but investigators found these contributions did not exist.

Meeson, aged 53, of George Street, Wolverhampton and Bradley, 47, of Springhill Lane, Lower Penn, Wolverhampton, had denied the charge. They were both found guilty following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court on March 5, 2013.

A third man, Steven Price, aged 50, of Pine Tops, Pratts Lane, Mappleborough Green, Studley, pleaded guilty of obtaining two documents by deception and was given an 18 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was also fined £100,000.

He was alleged to be the trustee of a company pension scheme.

Adrian Farley, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: "Meeson and Bradley committed blatant theft, exploiting their positions of trust and authority.

"Our priority is to track down tax fraudsters and to confiscate their ill-gotten gains. If they do not pay up, they face a substantial additional prison sentence – and they will still owe the money on release."

Meeson was ordered to repay £1,642,205.10, while Bradley must pay back £3,458,002.29.

Following the raids in 2010 the Pensions Regulator suspended Tudor Capital Management Ltd from acting as trustees for pension trust schemes.

HMRC has launched dozens of taskforces since May 2011, investigating everyone from scrap metal merchants to restaurant owners.

The taskforces are concentrated in so-called 'high risk' areas of work, where the tax office believes people are not paying the correct amount of tax.