Fraud pair narrowly avoid prison

Fraud pair narrowly avoid prison

5 July 2017

A NEWCASTLE company director and his daughter who were involved in a tax avoidance fraud have avoided being sent to jail.

At Downpatrick Crown Court on Monday Judge Piers Grant said it was with “considerable hesitation” that he had decided not to jail 69 year-old Laurence Cunningham, of Mourne Rise, and his daughter, Sinead Walker (40), of Slievehanny Park, Castlewellan.

Cunningham, owner of Laurence Cunningham Haulage, and Walker, who was described as the company’s wages clerk, admitted eight charges of false accounting and a further charge of cheating the public revenue.

The court was told they did not declare the correct amount of income tax and national insurance contributions owed by the company’s staff to HM Revenue and Customs and falsified expenses sheets made out to staff members.

A prosecution lawyer said all staff were paid the national minimum wage, but their pay was boosted by fake expenses, such as false payments for washing vehicles or overnight stays in cabs.

No receipts of the payments were kept and the total loss the revenue was £137,447, the lawyer said.

Most of the charges related to the period between July 2 to July 23, 2014. HM Revenue and Customs became suspicious and in May 2015 the matter was referred to the Fraud Investigation Service.

The prosecution lawyer said Cunningham initially told investigators he was advised that he did not need to keep receipts for expenses.

He later admitted that the expenses sheets submitted by the company were not accurate and that he did not keep proper records, while Walker admitted that the figures “had been made up.”

A number of the company’s employees were interviewed and said they believed their income tax and national insurance contributions had been properly deducted.

The lawyer said “multiple frauds” were involved in the case. However, she said it was accepted by the prosecution that the company might have been acting under the advice of their former accountant.

A defence lawyer for Cunningham said he accepted that it was a “serious offence to take money from the public purse,” but stressed that his client did not receive a direct benefit and that the fraud was not carried out to fund a “lavish lifestyle.”

He said the company had been in difficulty for a number of years, but hoped to be in a stronger financial position.

He also said Cunningham was willing to pay back £6,000 and to make further restitution.

A barrister for Walker said the company was poorly run and struggling. “There was a desire to keep the business going,” he remarked.

Cunningham and Walker were each given 100 hours of community service and were placed on probation for two years.

Judge Grant said “a very substantial amount of money” was involved.

He told the pair: “You were effectively stealing from individuals. It was clearly a sophisticated action on your part.”

Judge Grant gave the pair credit for pleading guilty, and noted they pledged to pay back £6,000, but warned further offending would see them sent straight to jail.

“With considerable hesitation I am not imposing a custodial sentence,” he said.