Director who used his delivery firm to make more than £150,000 in false tax claims gets seven year prison sentence

A company director who used his food delivery firm to make more than £150,000 in false tax claims over ten years has been handed a seven year prision sentence, suspended for two years.

Billa Dhand, 56, from Southall, West London, was director of Dysan Fresh, which delivered fruit and vegetables to be processed for some of the UK’s supermarket chains.

Investigators found that Dhand had been charging VAT but failed to pass it on to HMRC.  He created hundreds of false invoices between 2006 and 2016 to hide VAT receipts and claim VAT repayments totalling £153,764.84p.

Mark Cox, assistant director of HMRCs fraud investigation service, said: “Dhand thought he was above the law and could get away with cheating the system. He was wrong and is now paying the price for his greed. Tax cheats take money from the public services we all rely on.”

Dhand pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to four counts of fraud. 

On sentencing, her Honour Judge Korner said: “This was an extremely serious offence. HMRC has to operate on trust that people will comply with the law and pay the tax owing. You failed to do so. It was a carefully planned and deliberate fraud.”

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