Former Blackpool bar owner and Ma Kelly's boss jailed for 8 years over £5million tax fraud
A Blackpool bar owner and former boss of Ma Kelly’s has been jailed for swindling the taxman out of millions of pounds and stealing from his staffs wages.
Paul Anthony Kelly will spend the best part of a decade behind bars after he was found guilty of evading paying £4.9million in tax over a number of years with help from his corrupt accountant John Parry.
Today, Kelly appeared for sentencing at Preston Crown Court where he was jailed for eight years. He was also banned from being a company director for the next 10 years.
Crooked accountant John Parry was due to be sentenced alongside his former boss, but his legal team requested that the 70-year-old be sentenced separately. His sentencing was adjourned to September 22.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing has been adjourned to a date to be fixed for both defendants.
Kelly was sentenced as follows:
Seven counts of ‘cheating the public revenue’ - 7 years and 6 months imprisonment on each count concurrent to each other.
One count of committing an act or series of acts intended to pervert the course of public justice – 6 months imprisonment consecutive
A further nine counts of cheating the public revenue for which the judge directed ‘No Separate Penalty be imposed’.
Kelly’s crimes exposed
Kelly and Parry were both found guilty of cheating the public revenue and perverting the course of justice after an eight-week trial at Preston Crown Court in April.
Kelly submitted fraudulent VAT returns and deducted tax and National Insurance payments from staff salaries but failed to pay it to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The 63-year-old indulged in a luxury lifestyle, splashing hundreds of thousands of pounds from the proceeds of his crimes on a yacht, expensive Bentley and Rolls Royce cars, a £100,000 watch and a £2,000 Versace dining service set.
Kelly, from Cleveleys, was found guilty of 17 counts of cheating the public revenue and one count of committing an act/series of acts with intent to pervert the course of public justice.
The perverting the course of public justice offence is linked to a 2017 conviction for a planning enforcement breach brought by Blackpool Council. Kelly was criticised for a ‘flagrant and persistent disregard’ for planning laws when he was in charge of Ma Kelly’s South in Lytham Road, South Shore.
Proceeds of Crime proceedings were subsequently brought to establish the benefit Kelly gained from the breach.
During the course of the proceedings Kelly - with the encouragement and assistance of Parry - introduced false documents.
These documents were tax returns (that were never filed with HMRC) and were intended to mislead the court into believing income had been returned and tax paid to HMRC.
Arrested at airport
HMRC officers arrested Kelly at Gatwick Airport on his return from a trip to Barbados in November 2018, and Parry was interviewed on the same day.
A search of Kelly’s home uncovered bundles of cash including £29,190, $6,283, € 3,000 and 800 in Singapore dollars. The money was seized and forfeited in September 2019.
A further search of one of the business premises found digital files proving Kelly had not been declaring profits and had underdeclared VAT for several bars over a six-year period from March 2012.
HMRC said action to recover the proceeds of crime is underway.
“This was not a victimless crime”
Zoe Gascoyne, deputy director for HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Paul Kelly abused his position of trust to steal from clients and staff members, and John Parry assisted him in further stealing from the taxpayer.
“Tax fraud is never a victimless crime and the eye watering sums he spent on cars and jewellery should have been funding the public services we all rely on.
“I hope this result serves as a warning to the minority of corrupt professionals who wrongly believe they can use their knowledge to assist clients committing fraud.
“We can and will work with our law enforcement partners to bring you to justice and we encourage anyone with information about any type of tax fraud to report it online.”