A couple on benefits ran a £280,000
VAT scam on luxury fashion brand Chanel in order to fund a luxury flat
in London's exclusive Chelsea, private schools for their children and
gambling at casinos.
Emmanuel
and Behnaz Scotts bought items at one of three Chanel stores and later
return the goods to a different shop to obtain a refund or an exchange.
The
couple, who claimed £32,000 in benefits, posed as wealthy tourists in
order to claim back tax on returned goods They also misled staff into
supplying VAT export claim forms for goods they had not bought.
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Fraudsters: Behnaz Scotts, who ran a VAT scam
with her husband Emmanuel. The pair would pose as foreign tourists in
order to claim back tax on returned goods
Last week Emmanuel Behnaz was
told to repay £27,672 and his wife £25,622 - or they would be handed 15
months in jail - at an Old Bailey confiscation hearing, reports the Evening Standard.
In
March 2012 Emmanuel Scotts, a professional fraudster with convictions
for similar rackets in the UK, Switzerland and Sweden who also stole
£38,000 from a pawnbroker, was sentenced to four years for the fraud and
six months consecutive for the theft.
Sarah Giddens, the prosecutor at the
time, said the couple got to know staff at the central London stores in
order to get them to sign forms allowing the fraud to take place.
She
added: 'The UK retail export scheme is a scheme that allows a traveller
to the UK who is not a resident of the UK or EU to purchase goods from
participating retailers, inclusive to VAT, to claim back that VAT when
they leave the EU.
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They also misled Chanel staff into supplying VAT export claim forms for goods they had not bought. File picture
'This is done using a reclaim form, called the VAT 407.
'This
case is all about an abuse of the export system, at Chanel, a luxury
boutique shop, selling high level items, often to wealthy visitors to
the UK.
'In total they attempted to make a quarter of a million pounds in VAT refunds, but were actually paid £176,000.'
Robert
Alder, assistant director for criminal investigation at HMRC, said:
'Emmanuel and Behnaz Scotts were professional fraudsters and thought
they were too clever to fail. They passed themselves off as high rollers
and spent large sums of criminal cash in expensive boutiques and
casinos.
'But their
glamorous lifestyle was a sham, funded at the expense of the taxpayer.
Our investigations do not stop on sentencing - we pursue the money
stolen to reclaim it for the country’s finances.'
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