Former tax man jailed for revenue fraud

A
former employee has been jailed for four years after being found guilty of
defrauding the Inland Revenue of more than £185,000.

Errol
Mark was sentenced alongside his co-defendant, Theodolph Cudjoe,
for the fraud which was arranged around false tax repayments over a four-year
period from April 1996 to February 2000.

In
passing sentence Judge Charles Gibson said: "This was a serious breach of
trust involving the misuse and abuse of the Inland Revenue’s computer system by
an employee of some seniority and experience."

Mark,
who was responsible of issuing tax repayments, made more than 80 repayments
totalling in excess of £185,000. He defrauded the Inland Revenue by
systematically creating fictitious records to generate repayments of tax that
had not been collected.

Dave
Hartnett, director general of Inland Revenue policy said: "The integrity
of officers who work for us must be above question. This prosecution
demonstrates our determination to find and then take forceful action against
members of our staff who abuse the trust we place in them."

Inland
Revenue investigator Tony Turton,
added: "This was an extremely difficult case to prove, due to the
duplicity and cunning of Mark. He tried to cover his tracks by using false
passwords and creating false records and identities, which he thought we would
not find – he was wrong."

By Daniel Thomas

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