Where there’s muck, there’s tax fraud

A scrap metal dealer who masterminded a £15m tax fraud to enjoy a lavish lifestyle faces losing his fortune at a proceeds of crime hearing.

Anthony Bond, 65, and his associates dealt in scrap silver and car exhausts while pocketing vast sums of money in a ‘missing trader’ VAT fraud.

The catalytic converters in car exhausts contain valuable precious metals including platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Bond owned a five-bedroom house, a holiday home in Spain, a fleet of cars including a Bentley, Aston Martin and Range Rover, and more than £500,000 worth of jewellery.

He was jailed for seven and a half years in April 2019 for cheating the public revenue alongside his bookkeeper Stephen Goble, 66, who was jailed for five years.

Another member of the gang, Taylor Sullivan, 31, of Bushey, Herts was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, at Southwark Crown Court earlier this year.

Bond, of Great Missenden, Bucks, used his network of companies The Bond Group, based in Chesham, to steal VAT through a ‘missing trader’ fraud.

He and Goble claimed to have paid millions of pounds in VAT to suppliers over a six-year period.

They submitted false VAT forms relating to purchases for Bullion Bond Ltd, Eco Logic Solutions Ltd, Precious Waste Recovery Ltd, Dentalloy Ltd and Stewart Nicol Solutions Ltd, in order to offset the tax liability.

Bond returned to court this week for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act this week.

Judge Philip Bartle is yet to make a final ruling but said: ‘My findings were that VAT had not been paid by Bond Group.

‘I remain of the view that Mr Bond benefited from the conduct, and did so to the value of £15 million.

‘It was Mr Bond, and Mr Bond alone who was in charge.

‘Mr Bond ran this company.

‘I am fully satisfied that he has benefitted to the value of £15 million.’

Tracey Noon, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, earlier said:

‘These men stole vast amounts of money they neither earned nor deserved, taking millions of pounds away from vital public services in the UK.

‘Fuelled by greed, they thought the scam was too sophisticated to be detected – but they were wrong and the ringleaders paid the price with a prison sentence.

‘We will continue to pursue criminals like this who think stealing from the public purse is acceptable.’

The hearing continues.