Court finds potato merchant guilty of £161,000 in VAT fraud
Coupland was charged with making two false VAT repayment claims between March 2011 and November 2012. He claimed his computer had crashed and he had lost vital information which meant his VAT returns ended up being for the wrong amounts. The jury however did not buy his explanation and he was charged with being "knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of Value Added Tax".
Coupland was found guilty of submitting false repayment claims for £124,172 between 1 March 2011 and 6 June 2012. He was also found guilty of submitting a false claim during the period between June 1 and November 30, 2012 for £37,056.
source: bbc.com
