A businessman today (Monday) admitted being a love
A businessman today (Monday) admitted being a love rat with a passion for the roulette table but denied helping orchestrate a massive VAT repayment fraud.
High roller Jay Nevin boasted of his gambling winnings but blamed his ‘trusted’ brother for putting him in the dock accused of the tax sting.
The 48-year-old told London’s Southwark Crown Court his brother paid him pnds stlng 500 a month to handle correspondence and bank cheques.
And he told the jury: ‘I never acted dishonestly.
.
.
I don’t know about this, I was not a part of this.
‘He would tell me to do it and I would do it.
I trusted him, he is my brother.
‘
A joint operation between Italian police and British Revenue officers snared two brothers accused of masterminding a VAT rebate fraud on the public purse.
Arrested in Milan in February last year, the brothers are alleged to have been at the heart of a countrywide sting after Customs and Excise VAT offices were flooded with repayment claims from ghost businesses.
In a two year fraud, the Iranians allegedly laundered more than pnds stlng 500,000 abroad after abusing the tax system – although by the time the Revenue swooped the pair had submitted claims for pnds stlng 1.
1 million in rebates.
The jury heard mailbox addresses were utilised as business addresses under a string of bogus names to submit returns – said to involve hundreds of non-existent businesses.
As a result cheques were being sent to accommodation addresses in London, Windsor, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow – tax officers fooled into believing they were the homes of genuine business.
Eventually payments were lodged with banks in London, but the proceeds transferred abroad.
In the dock is 48-year-old Jay Nevin – a.
k.
a.
Jamshid Ardebili – of Floyd’s Lane, Pyrford, Woking, who denies committing one or more offences under VAT legislation between December 1997 and March last year.
Mr Julian Christopher, prosecuting, said Nevin attempted to ‘remain anonymous’ and distance himself from the fraud – while his brother Bagher Ardebili was for the most part ‘safely overseas.
‘
Mail box addresses opened using false names were paid for by postal order by Nevin, he said, in a bid to continue the subterfuge.
Mr Christopher said documents received would be forwarded to France, Italy, Turkey and Iran, where the brothers would prepare it for submission to the authorities.
He said in the same way rebate cheques were also sent abroad – the paperwork dealt with – and returned by post or courier to a different set of mailing addresses in London for Nevin to collect.
Nevin would then bank the proceeds – although the bulk of the cash would again be sent out of the country.
Mr Christopher said Nevin was ‘trusted’ to open envelopes returned to this country and bank money orders made out to a string of different names.
‘He knew the false names being used.
‘
The barrister alleged: ‘He knew full well what was going on and is an integral part of this fraud.
‘
And he said whenever parcels of payment orders were returned to Britain it was no coincidence that Nevin was in either Istanbul, Vienna, Milan or Paris – post-marks revealing the source of the consignment.
Mr Christopher asked the jury why Nevin did not simply return carrying the cheques.
‘Obviously he does not want too many of these documents on him if he is stopped.
.
.
he is not taking the risk,’ he answered his own question.
‘He cannot bring them with him because he knew it was a fraud he was intimately involved with.
‘
Counsel said a clear picture emerged.
‘The defendant and his brother worked as a team.
‘
But Nevin said on top of his own international business affairs he was paid by his sibling ‘to sort out his mail’, and bank cheques.
‘I was never aware of any fraudulent activity on his part,’ he said.
He admitted he visited money exchangers to send cash to Iran but said this was to get money to his family – always in small sums – or to receive cash.
‘It was never to facilitate fraud.
‘
Nevin accepted he deposited cheques at banks.
‘It was all agreed to his instructions.
He told me, for instance, which cheque to deposit.
He gave me instructions and I would do exactly what he instructed me.
‘
He said on other occasions he would collect mail from international couriers, and place letters in a large envelope to forward to his brother’s London office.
Nevin admitted he would have been seen in public ‘phone boxes by investigators – ringing his brother who would return the call because it was cheaper, or ringing the two women in his life.
‘There was a time when I was involved with two women.
It was a mistake I admit,’ he said.
‘I would make alibis to get away from one to go to the other one’
He said this meant that for a time he was separated from his wife until they reconciled their differences.
And before renting their Woking home, he said they lived in London hotels during the week – moving to the Marriott Hotel, Slough, at weekends to take advantage of ‘promotional deals.
‘
Nevin said he was also making money from successes at the roulette table.
Despite denying he lived the high life, he claimed to go to a casino with pnds stlng 40 and pnds stlng 50 and within a couple of hours be winning between pnds stlng 400 up to pnds stlng 1,000.
In mid 1998, Nevin claimed he was regularly ‘winning big money’, leaving with between pnds stlng 5,000 and pnds stlng 10,000.
‘I am experienced in roulette, I know the rules.
I have played in other countries,’ he said.
‘For instance, in Monte Carlo I play and win.
In Istanbul, I play and win.
‘
The trial continues.
ends
