Two Glasgow restaurateurs jailed for wide-scale VAT fraud

Two restaurateurs have been jailed after admitting to leading a large-scale VAT scam.

 

Antonio Carbajosa and Kevin Campbell, who ran various sites in Glasgow, including modern European restaurant Cranside Kitchen, Japanese restaurant Pickled Ginger, and Greek restaurant Halloumi, pled guilty to VAT tax evasion totalling almost £700,000.

 

They were sentenced to three years each.

 

Carbajosa and Campbell’s accountant, Khalid Javid, also admitted to submitting false VAT returns for two companies.

 

Javid’s accountancy firm KA Javid & Co created the business’s VAT returns and handled other matters such as PAYE, corporation tax and Companies House filings.

 

According to the BBC, the prosector Wojciech Jajdelski told the court that Carbajosa and Campbell had been able to profit in the long term by not accounting for all of the VAT due to HMRC.

 

Although some of the businesses sold takeaway sushi that did not incur VAT, the majority of their sales were subject to the standard 20% rate.

 

HMRC investigators first identified discrepancies in the VAT returns in two of Carbajosa and Campbell’s businesses, prompting a wider investigation.

 

A detailed accounting report covering August 2012 to October 2016 found the total fraudulent tax evasion by the two restrateures amounted to £682,882.

 

Jajdelski said: “The companies were able to finance their commercial activities, including payments of staff wages, out of the sales income part of which ought to have been accounted for HMRC.”

 

He said the companies’ annual VAT turnover was “significantly” above the threshold, yet three were not registered and failed to pay tax on their sales, resulting in a £136,576 loss to HMRC.