A company director who used the company’s money to renovate his family home has been sent to prison for 12 months.
Stephen Lee Bowers, aged 55, was also ordered to pay £252,977 under a confiscation order.
The Inland Revenue said Manchester Crown Court heard that Bowers, director of Offerton Sand & Gravel Ltd of Stockport, near Manchester, had used company money to renovate Shiloh Hall Farm, a farmhouse set in 4 acres of land.
“In doing so he had taken steps to ensure that the invoices provided by his suppliers gave false or misleading descriptions of the work carried out and passed these off as legitimate business expenditure through his company,” the Revenue said.
The case was taken up by the Manchester Special Compliance Office, which discovered that more than £161,000 was spent on work at Shiloh Hall Farm.
Judge Jeffery Lewis told Bowers: “Your problems stem from the purchase of Shiloh Hall Farm and the work carried out on it. Unfortunately the budget over ran and you made the cardinal error of not agreeing a fixed price. You did not sit down with those who could give you proper advice.”
The Revenue said: “The resulting tax loss was calculated to be £70,000 but with the use of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and Proceeds Of Crime Act 1995 the benefit to Steven Bowers was in excess of £250,000. This is the amount the judge ordered to be confiscated and to be paid by 31 March 2005. If it is not then Bowers is ordered to serve a further period of 5 years in default.”
Revenue spokesman Richard Boyes said the Revenue would always seek a confiscation order in criminal cases for the full amount due in law: “In certain circumstances the amount confiscated can be significantly more than the tax evaded, as demonstrated in this case”.
