Dismal POCA recovery from VAT fraud

£38m taken, £288k recovered

By Insolvency News, 18 January 2010. Posted in Personal

Raymond Woolley, convicted of a £38m VAT fraud, must repay £12m within three months or serve another two years in jail. 

On Friday two High Court judges rejected Woolley's judicial review to have the confiscation order thrown out.  The confiscation order was originally for £9.5m from a carousel fraud which cheated HMRC out of £38m. 

Woolley was jailed for nine years in 2002 after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue.  In 2005 he escaped from an open prison and fled to Switzerland, but was extradited back to the UK after four years on the run. 

In June 2009 the court was told that the enforcement receiver had recovered £288k, now that number seems to have dropped to £195k (possibly after fees have been taken). 

Would you serve two years in prison or hand over £12m?  It doesn't seem much of a choice really.

Comments What do you think?

  • Farhan Syed | 09:06 19 January 2010

    its a no-brainer,

  • Anonymous | 09:49 19 January 2010

    Keep the money and don't open the box!

  • Southcoast | 14:09 19 January 2010

    Leave him in pokey until his memory and the assets re-materialise. But do not beat him - because of his human rights.

  • BobJones | 11:41 20 January 2010

    Beat him! That's what the prison guards are there for.

  • jas raykanda | 15:05 5 February 2010

    Why do these people get so greedy and live a lavish lifestyle, pretending to be high fyer business men. they are just thieves! jas raykanda's case is next. his confescation hearing is due on monday feb 2010 and stole £54million from the queen! he even had the cheek of getting listed in the asian richlist before he was sent down!

Follow these comments

We'll send you an email whenever there's a new comment. No spam, promise.


Add a comment

You must be logged in to comment on articles and blog posts. Log in or Register