A conveyancer who swindled his clients and HM Revenue and Customs out of almost £352,500 in stamp duty land tax, has been jailed for three years and four months.
The HMRC investigation found that conveyancer Anthony Maragh, 57, from Harrow, lied on paperwork to undervalue his clients’ properties meaning the amount of tax owed was reduced.
But he charged them the full amount and kept the difference.
Between 2008 and 2013, he under-declared the stamp duty land tax due on 43 property transactions, transferring £297,000 directly from the solicitor’s company accounts into his personal bank account. He also spent a further £55,000 directly from the client account on collectable antique Chinese gold bonds.
Confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of crime are underway.
“As a conveyancer, Maragh knew only too well that he was breaking the law and what the consequences of his actions would be. He abused the trust of his clients, stealing money that had been paid by them in good faith to meet their tax liabilities, to line his own pockets” says an HMRC spokesman.
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It always amazes me how these people think they will get away with it. I'm sure many of them do, depressingly.
The sheer arrogance and treachery on display from the above conveyancer makes you despair. An isolated incident, yes, but still depressing.
There will always be chancers who will take as many risks as possible to make as much money as possible. Greed, pure and simply. As you say, I'm sure many do get away with it unscathed.
But swindling clients out of over £350,000. You're gonna get found out eventually, aren't you? What a foolish, foolish man, in more ways than one.
I wonder if HMRC would have been as interested if he had just swindled clients out of money and not them as well?
Believe it or not he was a damn good conveyance. I recommended him countless times when I worked in Harrow some years ago, and he was one of best out there, always willing to take a call and he sped through case after case, luckily the vast majority were pre 2008.
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