A Barclays Bank business manager has been jailed for his part in a £3.2m Income Tax Self Assessment fraud, which used a computer virus to extract personal details of consumers to carry out the crime.
Nikola Novakovic has been jailed for three years and three months, while co-conspirator Ukrainian national Oleg Rozputnii received a three year and nine month sentence after both pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue.
According to HM Revenue & Customs, the pair registered over 1050 fictitious taxpayers on the self-assessment system. They then swindled tax repayments using more than 200 false bank accounts to steal £3.2m between January 2008 and September 2010.
The money was withdrawn from cash machines in London or transferred through a web of linked accounts set up by the fraudsters. Rozputnii used numerous false identities to help commit the fraud and conceal his involvement, transferring some of the money back to the Ukraine.
Upon sentencing, Recorder Singh QC said: “This was a sophisticated and orchestrated fraud”, adding that Novakovic “had abused his position with the bank.”
HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation Joe Rawbone said: “These men ran an audacious scam stealing millions of pounds. They set up hundreds of false bank accounts using viruses to hack into personal computers to gain information. They used their illegal profits to fund lavish lifestyles buying performance cars, including Porches, Mercedes and Jaguars.”
An accomplice, Dmytro Shepel, was jailed for three and a half years in August 2010, for his part in the fraud.
