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Dubai: British tax fugitives, you have no place in the UAE, senior UK officials has warned.
A high-level delegation from Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, gave a stern warning to British tax evaders who are in the UAE, plan to stay in the country or even just pass through its borders.
The delegation, headed by Simon York, director of HMRCs Fraud Investigation Service, was in Dubai last week to meet UAE law enforcement partners in their fight against organised crime, tax evasion and other financial crimes.
The visit followed the July arrest of one of the UKs most wanted tax dodgers, Geoffrey Johnson, 72, who was arrested at Dubai airport while travelling using a fake passport.
Johnson was convicted of stealing 109 million (Dh532 million) from the public coffers and was caught after living a high life in Kenya for three years. He and his son, Gareth, who still remains at large, were involved in an 18-person gang that pocketed VAT money instead of giving them back to the national treasury.
York said the arrest was made possible because of the cooperation between Dubai Police, Dubai Customs and Immigration and UK authorities who worked together to bring Johnson to justice. He was deported to the UK four days after his arrest and is now serving a 24-year sentence.
Johnson is the first big catch in Dubai in recent years. We very much hope that there would be more [arrests] in the years to come and thats why were here, York told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
The message is clear: with the UK and the UAE working together, weve proven that Dubai is no sanctuary for tax criminals. They are not beyond our reach; we will recover the money they stole, and we will bring them to justice, he added.
York said his unit is currently working closely with Dubai authorities on a list of people of interest to us. Their identities, however, cannot be revealed at this stage.
The UK and the UAE have been working together to combat transnational organised crime since 2005. Both countries share intelligence, work together operationally and recover the proceeds of crime.
Last year, HMRCs Fraud Investigation Service prosecuted around 1,200 people in the UK for tax crimes and recovered or protected 5.2 billion.
If we dont stop all that money [from going to thieves], it wont be there to fund public services [such as health care and education]. So its really critically important.
York added that these criminals also use money to fund other sorts of criminality.
Kevin Newe, assistant director of Proceeds of Crime at HMRC, said their unit is refreshing our Most Wanted list and we hope to publish that soon. We will shed more details on that in the next couple of weeks.
The HMRC published its 20 Most Wanted fugitives list for the first time in 2012. The list included three individuals who were in Dubai at that time: Hussain Chohan, Nasser Ahmed, and Adam Umerji who stole a total of 420 million in various tax crimes.
York said the long arm of the law has caught up with these tax crooks.
One of those individuals, Mr Chohan, actually fled from Dubai but we picked him up in Canada with the help of the Canadian authorities. He is now going through the judicial process there and we expect to get him back in the UK. The other two are still going through judicial process. They were here, yes, York said, declining to give further details.
The joint efforts against these criminals also involve the public, he said.
The public can help a lot by approaching the Dubai Police or talking to our officials who are based here. They can ring anonymously if they want to give us information that they think might be useful for us in tracking down economic crime.
Useful numbers
Dubai Police: 901
HM Revenue and Customs Dubai Office: 04 309 4277
HM Revenue and Customs in the UK: (+44) 0800 788 887
A high-level delegation from Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, gave a stern warning to British tax evaders who are in the UAE, plan to stay in the country or even just pass through its borders.
The delegation, headed by Simon York, director of HMRCs Fraud Investigation Service, was in Dubai last week to meet UAE law enforcement partners in their fight against organised crime, tax evasion and other financial crimes.
The visit followed the July arrest of one of the UKs most wanted tax dodgers, Geoffrey Johnson, 72, who was arrested at Dubai airport while travelling using a fake passport.
Johnson was convicted of stealing 109 million (Dh532 million) from the public coffers and was caught after living a high life in Kenya for three years. He and his son, Gareth, who still remains at large, were involved in an 18-person gang that pocketed VAT money instead of giving them back to the national treasury.
York said the arrest was made possible because of the cooperation between Dubai Police, Dubai Customs and Immigration and UK authorities who worked together to bring Johnson to justice. He was deported to the UK four days after his arrest and is now serving a 24-year sentence.
Johnson is the first big catch in Dubai in recent years. We very much hope that there would be more [arrests] in the years to come and thats why were here, York told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
The message is clear: with the UK and the UAE working together, weve proven that Dubai is no sanctuary for tax criminals. They are not beyond our reach; we will recover the money they stole, and we will bring them to justice, he added.
York said his unit is currently working closely with Dubai authorities on a list of people of interest to us. Their identities, however, cannot be revealed at this stage.
The UK and the UAE have been working together to combat transnational organised crime since 2005. Both countries share intelligence, work together operationally and recover the proceeds of crime.
Last year, HMRCs Fraud Investigation Service prosecuted around 1,200 people in the UK for tax crimes and recovered or protected 5.2 billion.
If we dont stop all that money [from going to thieves], it wont be there to fund public services [such as health care and education]. So its really critically important.
York added that these criminals also use money to fund other sorts of criminality.
Kevin Newe, assistant director of Proceeds of Crime at HMRC, said their unit is refreshing our Most Wanted list and we hope to publish that soon. We will shed more details on that in the next couple of weeks.
The HMRC published its 20 Most Wanted fugitives list for the first time in 2012. The list included three individuals who were in Dubai at that time: Hussain Chohan, Nasser Ahmed, and Adam Umerji who stole a total of 420 million in various tax crimes.
York said the long arm of the law has caught up with these tax crooks.
One of those individuals, Mr Chohan, actually fled from Dubai but we picked him up in Canada with the help of the Canadian authorities. He is now going through the judicial process there and we expect to get him back in the UK. The other two are still going through judicial process. They were here, yes, York said, declining to give further details.
The joint efforts against these criminals also involve the public, he said.
The public can help a lot by approaching the Dubai Police or talking to our officials who are based here. They can ring anonymously if they want to give us information that they think might be useful for us in tracking down economic crime.
Useful numbers
Dubai Police: 901
HM Revenue and Customs Dubai Office: 04 309 4277
HM Revenue and Customs in the UK: (+44) 0800 788 887
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