A MAN has been disqualified from directing a company after committing £19m of tax fraud.

Mark Cook, who directed Crouch Commodities, had "participation in transactions which were connected with the fraudulent evasion of Value Added Tax" between March and June 2006.

Between April and July 2006 Cook caused Crouch Commodities to wrongfully claim £19,376,461 from HM Revenue and Customs in respect of four input tax reclaims.

Cook, 52, from Pintail Crescent in Braintree, has since been disqualified from directing a company for 15 years.

A report by The Insolvency Service said: "The defendant was aware of the fact that VAT fraud was rife in the trade in wholesale of mobile phones or ought to have been aware of it because he had been warned of it by HMRC with regard to Crouch, at the latest by letter dated October 12, 2004."

He had also been provided with copies of public notices regarding invalid input tax, and confirmed his understanding of them in a meeting with HMRC.

The company held an account at the First Curaçao International Bank and used that to make payments to and receive payments from its trading partners.

In 2004 and 2005 Crouch Commodities made sales exclusively to non EC sales list customers.

The EC sales list assists tax authorities monitor the movement of goods within the European Union.

In January 2006 they made sales to both EC and non EC customers and from February 2006 dealt only with customers in the EC.

His disqualification, which started on September 1, follows investigation by the Public Interest Unit, a specialist team of the Insolvency Service.

The investigation uncovered that Crouch Commodities Limited participated in ‘missing trader fraud’.

This is commonly known as 'Carousel' fraud, as large consignments small high value goods are invoiced rapidly and repeatedly around trading chains, speeded up by movement on paper, with actual movement of goods only taking place as they enter or exit the UK.

All traders banked with the First Curacao International Bank which was shut down by the Netherlands Antilles authorities in September 2006 in order to prevent money laundering.

Anthony Hannon, Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit, part of the Insolvency Service, said: "Crouch Commodities Ltd was involved in trading and making wrongful reclaims in a fraudulent VAT scheme which had been costing the UK Exchequer significant amounts of money at the time the fraud was perpetrated.

"This is not a victimless crime, the main impact being on honest tax payers and their families who as a result suffered the effects of funding shortages in healthcare, education and other front line services.

"Regulatory changes, investigative action and legal proceedings have reduced the scale of this fraud from 2007 onwards.

"The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to use its enforcement powers to investigate and disqualify directors whose companies defraud the public purse."