Sixteen charged with £6m fraud

Sixteen construction industry bosses have today been charged with conspiring to steal £6m through a tax fraud.

The bosses were arrested in September 2009 after dawn raids by HMRC criminal investigation officers in the West Midlands, Staffordshire, London and Manchester.

During the arrests, cash totalling £130,004 was seized - £91,600 from nine sites in the West Midlands and £38,444 from two sites in the Manchester area. A further £2,000 in dollars and euros were seized.

In addition paperwork including bank accounts and computers, class-A drugs and associated equipment – scales and dealer apparatus - were also seized in the West Midlands.

Over 40 search warrants were executed at residential and business premises in the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Nottingham, London and Manchester.

Adrian Farley, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: “Today sixteen people have been charged linked to what we believe is a fraud resulting in over £6m being stolen from public funds.

“We are committed to bringing such cases to the courts and depriving those involved of the proceeds of their crime.”