Jail sentence dished out to Indian restaurant owner
The owner of three Indian restaurants across Dorset has been jailed for a £200,000 tax fraud.
Motin Miah lied about the takings from his Joy restaurants in Charminster, Southbourne and Ferndown to evade paying £154,763 VAT over a five-year period.
Miah also evaded paying £48,943 in income tax. He never declared his income as being over £7,800 a year to HMRC but put his earnings as at least £50,000 annually on his mortgage applications. Miah also received income from properties he owned and rented out.
He pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue and evading income tax before Bournemouth Crown Court on 10 September 2018 and was sentenced to 32 months in jail on 16 November 2018. He was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.
His Honour Judge Fuller QC said: "Despite a body of evidence, you lied in interview and said that you weren't in charge and didn't know who the bosses were."
Richard Wilkinson, assistant director at HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service, said: "Miah stole more than £200,000 that should have gone to fund our public services. Instead, he lied about his takings with the sole intention of pocketing cash to fund his own lifestyle and build up a substantial property portfolio. Confiscation proceedings are now underway."
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