The owners of a Dundee newsagent cheated the taxman out of more than £1 million to pay for the private education for their children and home improvements.
Mohammed Arshid ,61, and Maqsoodan Arshid, 57, were directors of Nethergate Newsagents, which went into compulsory liquidation in July 2014 with debts of £1,044,973.
The shop went under after a five-year probe by HMRC found it had been under-declaring and concealing its liabilities for 17 years.
Mr Arshid, who was jailed for 17 months last year after admitting perjury in another case, submitted false P35 end of year returns to HMRC for tax and National Insurance contributions between 1996/97 and 2012/13.
This resulted in lost tax revenue, and penalty charges, of £525,454.
He also concealed VAT liabilities between February 1997 and November 2012 resulting in lost revenue, including penalty charges, of £170,182.
Mr Arshid also submitted incorrect tax returns between November 2005 and 2007, resulting in lost revenue and penalties of £221,282.
Mr Arshid and his wife admitted using the money for home improvements, to pay for private education and to top up employees’ wages.
He has now been banned from becoming the director of a company for 11 years while Mrs Arshid cannot act as a director for two years.
Robert Clarke, group leader Insolvent Investigations North, said: “Directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of customers and creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the local economy.
“These bans should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to help themselves first; you have a duty to your creditors and if you neglect this duty you could be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment.”
Mr Arshid was jailed for 17 months last year after admitting he had lied under oath to help clear a man who had been accused of threatening a business associated with murder by the Taliban in 2010.
There was nobody available at the Arshid’s Broughty Ferry home available for comment.
