Midland gang jailed for £170 million VAT fraud

Mar 29 2009 by Mark Cowan, Sunday Mercury

HIGH roller Micky Singh loved to gamble.

Over a six-year period the charmer staked an estimated £100 million on horses, football and roulette – including £11 million in just one weekend.

Because of his reputation as a high-stakes player, the smooth-talking Midlander soon became the darling of casino bosses.

He had his own chair in one exclusive venue, enjoyed £1 million rolling credit with another and received lavish gifts from the gambling firms – including an all-expenses trip to the European Cup Final.

But the playboy gambler with a superstar-lifestyle and a flat overlooking Lords Cricket Ground hid a dirty secret – he was using his betting know-how to help criminal gangs clean their ill gotten gains.

Undercover customs officers had been watching Micky, 39 and from Barnt Green, Worcestershire, as part of an investigation into a Midland money laundering racket.

Their four-year probe uncovered a lucrative scam that raked in millions of pounds through VAT fraud, money laundering and credit card cloning and also exposed an internet bank registered in the Caribbean being used to channel criminal monies around the world.

Eight people have been jailed for a total of 34 years for their parts in the scam.

Customs officers believe the principal players profited by a staggering £168 million and have now launched efforts to strip them of their ill-gotten assets. They are still poring over paperwork to see how much Micky earned through the crime.

HM Revenue and Customs’ senior investigating officer Andy Baker, who led the complex investigation, said: “That is where they will feel the pain.

“They used the money to fund extravagant and luxurious lifestyles including properties, performance cars and designer jewellery.

“Getting the convictions was the hard part. But we have now been able to open it up to investigate their criminal lifestyle and take away the proceeds they earned through crime.”