HMRC adviser Amjad Khan jailed for 拢40,000 tax fraud
- Published
An Inland Revenue adviser who did not pay income tax for 13 years has been jailed, with a judge saying sparing him from custody would cause "outrage".
Amjad Khan, 38, failed to pay almost 拢16,000 between 2002 and 2015 while working for the HMRC in Bradford.
He also pocketed nearly 拢24,000 in tax credits to which he was not entitled as part of the "appalling and blatant" fraud.
Khan admitted the fraud offences at Bradford Crown Court last year.
At the same time as he was working for the HMRC in Bradford city centre, the married father-of-three was also earning money through a property rental business and his work as a self-employed gas and heating engineer.
'Public would be outraged'
Prosecutor Howard Shaw said Khan of Burnett Avenue, Bradford, had claimed in a tax return for the year 2014/15 that both his businesses were loss-making even though analysis of his bank accounts showed they were profitable.
Defence barrister Emma Downing said a constructive alternative to immediate custody could include unpaid work for the community.
However, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said all the time Khan had been working for HMRC advising people about their "rights and wrongs" he had been committing fraud against the state.
"You were evading income tax over a 13-year period," said the judge, who described the frauds as "appalling and blatant".
The judge said a 20-month prison sentence would have to be served and the public would be outraged if the court did not deal with Khan in a robust way.
Khan is expected face a further hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act later in the year in bid to get back the money he obtained through fraud.