VAT fraudster gets 9 years for refusing £40m bill

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VAT fraudster gets 9 years for refusing £40m bill

Frenchman told: Pay it all back or stay inside


By John Oates • Get more from this author
Posted in IT Channel, 22nd November 2010 12:15 GMT
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Emmanuel Hening, already serving the longest sentence ever secured against a VAT-fraudster, has seen another nine years added onto his sentence.
A court last week added to his 15-year sentence because he has failed to repay £40m demanded by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.





Hening, who has dual French-Belgian nationality, got 15 years for his part in a £54m mobile phone carousel fraud. The eight-strong gang got almost 40 years in prison for the complex missing trader scam.
The gang imported mobile phones VAT-free before claiming to sell them on with VAT added. The purchasing companies then disappeared before paying the tax, while the phones were sold on via various companies before returning to Hening.
Richard Meadows, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: “We are determined to restore this money to the nation’s finances, in what is one of the largest confiscation orders ever gained.
"The additional nine year jail term given to Hening sends the strongest warning yet to criminals that they cannot hide, even in prison, from our actions to seek further justice... we will continue our efforts to reclaim his criminal profits."
The Revenue's actions follow orders made to two other gang members to repay £3.8m and £4.7m respectively.
Emmanuel Armand Saul Hening, born in 1973, lived in Luxembourg before starting his prison sentence in the UK. ®


http://www.channelregister.co.uk/201...raud_millions/

[GTI]

Let me be the first to say that paedophi1es are treated with greater leniency.. etc etc..

[Ganty]

24 years is a hell of a stretch.

Is no one else thinking that the cost of incarceration and trials etc... will far outweigh what the Inland Revenue lost through the fraud?

[Mule]

Pay it all back or stay inside

So, if he repays it can he go free? I thought they could seize assets anyway? If he has access to the funds and he's genuinely just refusing then fuck him.

[MoNkFiSh]

I think the 9 years added on is for refusing to pay back the money the 15 yrs would stand wether he paid or not

[Rick Sanchez]

He should appeal especially after they jut let vodafone off there HUGE bill

[flumperino]

"The additional nine year jail term given to Hening sends the strongest warning yet to criminals......"

OK, dude deserves to be in jail, but I have always thought that using individual criminals to 'send a warning' or to make an example of them to deter others, is completely wrong.

The law should adhere to standardisation for sentencing crimes. A judge shouldn't be able to just dump a massive sentence onto someone in order to send a message to other criminals.

The guy definitely belongs in jail, and he really has nobody to blame but himself, but it just strikes me as unfair that he is being used to put a message across to others, which really should be delivered with eduction rather than this guy's life.

[Over Carl]

OK, dude deserves to be in jail, but I have always thought that using individual criminals to 'send a warning' or to make an example of them to deter others, is completely wrong.

The law should adhere to standardisation for sentencing crimes. A judge shouldn't be able to just dump a massive sentence onto someone in order to send a message to other criminals.

The guy definitely belongs in jail, and he really has nobody to blame but himself, but it just strikes me as unfair that he is being used to put a message across to others, which really should be delivered with eduction rather than this guy's life.

Whilst a very valid point, I still think the numbers don't sound too high considering the seriousness of his offending.

[pattikins]

Whilst a very valid point, I still think the numbers don't sound too high considering the seriousness of his offending.

Lifers, on average, get between 14 -16 years. This guy is getting extra years (more than you average drug smuggler) without the luxury of going before his peers + the government only have to base their evidence on the balance of probabilities (civil law). Scary stuff.

[CzarJunkie]

He deserves everything he gets. If any leniency was shown we'd have an avalanche of chancers commiting VAT fraud and where would that leave us?

Unlike other crimes, stiff sentencing for robbery or fraud usually has the desired results. It's risk versus reward.