The owner of an historic Cheshire country house turned wedding venue has been sentenced for VAT fraud.
Mohammed Isaq, owner of Haslington Hall country house near Crewe, tried to steal more than £28,000 in VAT repayments along with Andrew Tomlinson, a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation found.
Isaq, who is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence for flouting fire safety rules at the Grade I listed Haslington Hall, was sentenced to 26 weeks in jail at Manchester Crown Court.
Tomlinson, 43, of Manor Close, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, was sentenced to a community order of 100 hours of unpaid work. Both admitted tax fraud.
HMRC investigators found Isaq, 59, of Davenport Green Hall in Altrincham, submitted a false VAT repayment claim of £28,478 using bogus information supplied by Tomlinson.
Tim Atkins, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Isaq and Tomlinson concocted a lie to try and steal money from the public purse. They knew what they were doing was wrong and their greed has landed Isaq time behind bars and Tomlinson with a community order.
“Tax fraud takes funding from our public services and cheats the honest majority who do the right thing. We ask anyone with information about suspected tax fraud to contact HMRC online or call our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”
Isaq said the VAT repayment claim was for services provided by Manor Design and Build and provided two invoices. But the invoices contained bogus VAT and Companies House numbers. Investigators found Tomlinson was the director of Manor Design and Build, which was dissolved in 2009.
Tomlinson, who was also a director of a linen company that supplied Haslington Hall, initially denied any wrongdoing but later admitted supplying information to Isaq to help him create the phony VAT invoices.
Isaq was ordered earlier this year to stop using Haslington Hall for weddings following visits by fire safety officers, who found that guests and staff were at risk of death and serious injury.
Firefighters were called to a major blaze at Haslington Hall in March. Fire crews from six stations were drafted in to tackle the blaze which was reported at 8.05am on March 24.
Cheshire police and crime commissioner issues
Jailing Isaq in June of this year, a judge said he continued to ignore prohibition notices by hosting more weddings, committing a ‘flagrant’ breach of fire safety regulations.
Haslington Hall dates back to the 14th century and it is claimed that timbers used in early building works were salvaged from ships of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Information about any type of tax fraud can be reported to HMRC online at https://www.gov.uk/report-an-unregistered-trader-or-business.
