MR LEE ANTHONY ROBERT GIFKINS

Disqualified from

2021-12-21

Date of birth on record

September 1964

Between 1 January 2016 and 31 March 2017 Lee Antony Robert Gifkins (“Mr Gifkins”) caused or allowed Top Deal Services Ltd (“TDS”) to participate in transactions which were connected with the fraudulent evasion of VAT, such connections being something which Mr Gifkins either knew or should have known about, in that: Mr Gifkins was aware or ought to have been aware of fraud in the trade sector and the need to conduct adequate due diligence by 16 October 2013 at the latest due to: • HMRC informed Mr Gifkins of VAT fraud including the provision of VAT Notice 726 by letter dated 16 October 2013. The trading in which TDS was involved had features which put, or should have put, Mr Gifkins on enquiry about the legitimacy thereof, as follows: • TDS never held, sighted or inspected the stock; • The deals were back-to-back and either completed on the same day or within a very short time-frame; • There were no contracts or insurance in place; • TDS was not involved in the transport of the goods and it was seemingly the supplier, or in some cases the supplier’s supplier, who arranged delivery to TDS’ customer or even customer’s customer; • The supplier appeared to know TDS’ customer, or even customer’s customer via delivery details; • A number of identical deals were carried out on the same day or in just a few days of each other; • Sales were sometimes arranged in advance of purchases with a certainty that the goods of the number and type required could always be sourced; • In some cases deals were undertaken even when the alleged supplier had not been validated by HMRC. Despite being aware of VAT fraud in TDS’ trade sector and engaging in transactions bearing the features of such fraud, Mr Gifkins failed to ensure that TDS carried out effective steps, checks and / or due diligence in respect of its trade and of its trading partners as follows: • The due diligence carried out on suppliers was wholly inadequate, consisting of no more than basic and perfunctory checks which were never designed to truly test the credibility of the supplier and the supply chains. HMRC suffered a loss of at least £1,471,338 due to fraudulently claimed input tax.