Michael Bolton, the former boss of failed mortgage lender Edeus, has been jailed for two years.
Exeter Crown Court found that Bolton had hijacked other companies’ VAT numbers in an attempt to steal over £125,000.
The investigation by an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) VAT repayment taskforce revealed that Bolton, 50, kept the VAT he should have paid.
Bolton was sentenced to two years jail after being found guilty in absence to VAT fraud at Exeter Crown Court on 2 February 2016. It is believed he could be in Spain or Brazil.
Colin Spinks, assistant director of the fraud investigation service at HMRC, said: “This was deliberate attempt to defraud the public purse by Bolton. He chose to pocket the VAT he charged on invoices using different company identities.
“Our investigations unravelled the invoice trail and cloned VAT numbers he used to steal public funds. Today he has been paid back for his dishonesty with a jail sentence.”
Bolton, a business consultant and the director of two companies, had kept the VAT he had charged Clayton Euro Risk Limited (CER), even though both his firms weren’t VAT registered. The invoices raised by Bolton’s companies showed separate VAT registration numbers for each firm, but both of these numbers had been copied from other genuine businesses known to Bolton.
In an attempt to disguise the fraud Bolton registered one of his companies for VAT in December 2013. The registration was only backdated to July 2013 but he declared and paid HMRC £8,000 of VAT which reduced the value of the fraud to £125,340 for this prosecution.
There were three businesses associated with this fraud. Firstly, MB Consulting – registered at two addresses in SW3 and SW6 London. Bolton was the sole director. This company was never registered for VAT.
Secondly, Bolton Capital Structures Limited – registered at an address in SW6 London. Bolton was the sole director. This company was register for VAT at the end of 2013.
Clayton Euro Risk Limited, registered in Bristol. Bolton was a co-director of this company until 31 October 2014. This company employed Bolton as a consultant and was not aware of the fake VAT numbers used in this fraud.
