Suffolk man jailed for £2.7m VAT fraud

A seven year jail term has been handed to a Suffolk businessman who pleaded guilty to £2.7m in false tax repayments.

Roderick Chisholm Roy, 59, used several aliases in the fraud referred to by HM Revenue and Customs as 'complex'.

The Croydon Crown Court heard how Roy, of Glevering Mill, Wickham Market, made up bogus companies, falsified documents and opened bank accounts with which to siphon money.

The documents which were found by HMRC at Roy's house were linked to his aliases.

Other digital forensic evidence connected Roy to further forged documents including those used to falsely obtain VAT repayments.

The investigation that finally tracked down Roy was helped by officials of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and US Immigration & Customs Enforcement to track down one of his aliases in Nigeria and the USA, BBC reported.

Judge Ainley told Roy: 'You are a Walter Mitty character and central to this fraud, even continuing after part of the fraud was discovered.'

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