A top restaurateur who swindled the Inland Revenue

A top restaurateur who swindled the Inland Revenue of
pnds 895,000 was jailed for a year at Southwark Crown Court
today Friday.

Stephen Less was told by judge Christopher Hardy:
‘For a period of ten years between 1980 and 1991, you were the
director and moving light in a series of companies involved in
nightclubs, discos and restuarants in the West End of London.

‘You made a great deal of money for which you worked extremely
hard.

You reaped a well earned reward.

But you deliberately opted out of
paying national insurance in relation to these companies and as a
result cheated the Inland Revenue of some pnds 895,000.

‘This sum it seems it has been lost forever.

He added: ‘There is no evidence of any falseification in
company records or devices one would expect in a case of this fraud.

‘
But he said a custodial sentence was justified.

‘A vast body of honest taxpayers have been defrauded of
a substansial sum of money’, the judge told Less.

The court had been told that Less ran exclusive London
clubs and restaurants and the fraud on the revenue was ‘systematic’.

For 11 years entrepreneur Less – friend and business
associate of actress Susan George – avoided paying income tax and
national insurance contributions for his nightclub and restaurant
staff.

A jury of nine men and three women had taken two days
to find Less, 51, of The Long House, Kingston, Surrey, guilty
of cheating the public revenue of pounds 895,000 between April 1980
and April 1991.

But they cleared the businessman of cheating the revenue of
pounds stlg 380,000 in Value Added Tax.

He had pleaded not guilty.

His his book keeper Mukesh Depala, 31, of Fallow Court Avenue,
North Finchley, North London, was cleared at the end of the
case for the prosecution of one charge of cheating the public revenue
and an offence of conduct involving the commission of one or more
offences under the Value Added Tax Act 1983.

He, too, pleaded not guilty.

Glamorous blonde actress Miss George brought a touch of
showbiz to the month long trial when she appeared in court
to give evidence against Less.

She accused him of blackening her reputation after she had
joined a venture to take a London club upmarket.

Miss George had agreed to introduce her show business and
political friends to Willows of Knightsbride after advising on
its redecoration.

It was hoped that the move would attract people who wanted
to rub shoulders with the stars at the exclusive club – but hit by the
recession the club closed after 18 months with massive debts.

Miss George told how she was ‘surprised and angry’ when
a decorator she introduced to Less blamed her for an unpaid bill
of pounds 12,000.

‘I was surprised he did not have the money to support the
restaurant,’ she said.

Realising Less had money troubles she said she ‘pulled away’
from the venture, saying: ‘I wanted out.

I was mostly concerned
with the clientele I had introduced to the club – they had paid
money to become members and I had to think of my good name.

‘
BUt she said she believed Less to be honest, hard working and
ambitious.

Mr Philip Singer, prosecuting, said Less used a complex
structure of companies to evade tax due on the trading of the
Gaslight Club, Piccadilly, the Wellington Club and Willows of
Knightsbridge, Pip’s Wine Bar, Kensington, and the Blue Jade
Restaurant, Belgravia.

Counsel said: ‘As far as Less is concerned, the Crown allege in
relation to the Inland Revenue and his obligations to that
organisation, were a low priority indeed.

‘
Mr Singer said one employee was told by the middleaged
businessman that ‘he regarded money spent on tax as money wasted.

‘
ENDS