VAT fraudster jailed and disqualified
A Manchester man has been jailed and disqualified from being a company director for his role in a multimillion-pound VAT fraud.
HM Revenue & Customs said 45-year-old Abdul Koser, of Alexandra Road South, Manchester, was sentenced to five years in prison and disqualified from being a company director for five years.
HMRC said Koser acted as a "buffer trader" in the fraud, using his company Kosco Communications to put distance between a "missing trader" and exporter in a £250m fraud involving 15 gang members.
The fraud involved Gibraltar multimillionaire Nasir Khan's, who has been jailed for nine years. The gang had been involved in the supposed import and export of mobile phones.
The agency said Koser often made payments direct to the organisers controlling EU bank accounts. When his bank closed his account, he used a corner shop/DVD business in Wilmslow, Cheshire, called Gaff Video Stores to continue a supply of mobile phones.
A total of £800,000 was also ordered to be paid.
