Company director admits £193K VAT fraud

52-year-old bailed after charge of evasion and fraud

A Douglas recruitment company director has been bailed after admitting a £193,000 VAT fraud.

Fifty-two-year-old Richard Ian Kissack of Falcon Cliff Court appeared before High Bailiff Jayne Hughes at Douglas courthouse.

He admitted a single charge of VAT evasion and eight counts of VAT fraud at Ambitions Ltd.

Prosecution advocate Rachael Braidwood told the hearing Customs & Excise had planned a routine VAT inspection last June.

Shortly before that could take place, Kissack hand-delivered a letter about VAT errors - prompting investigators to search his home and business.

They discovered he'd been evading VAT on sales since 2011, failing to pay £193,536 and altering a spreadsheet to cover his tracks.

They also found a note saying he'd estimated he owed around a quarter of a million pounds, and a newspaper clipping about an accountant in the UK who'd been sent to prison in a similar case.

Mrs Hughes granted bail in the sum of £500 and Kissack is next due to appear in court on 18 December.