Crooked lawyer to hand over £90k
Prosecutors have seized more than £90,000 from a crooked solicitor who helped multi-million pound fraudster MichaelVoudouri launder his ill-gotten gains.
Richard Housley, 61, was ordered to hand over £97,378 to the Crown following proceedings at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday.
The lawyer, of Edinburgh, was jailed for four years in March 2013 for his role in helping Michael Voudouri,49, hide £1.8 million.
Voudouri, of Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, is one of Scotland’s most notorious fraudsters. He was jailed for 11 and a half years in June 2014 for conning the taxman out of £11.6 million.
On Friday, judge Lord Bannatyne ruled that Housley benefited to the tune of £1,399,329 for his role in the scam.
However, prosecutors are only able to recover £97,378 from Housley as this is the amount of assets which he has available at this point in time.
Voudouri went on the run after pleading guilty to fraud charges at the High Court in Glasgow in October 2012. He was returned to Scotland after being arrested in northern Cyprus.
He had spent three years conning the taxman out of millions in VAT payments from his computer component company Q-Tech Distribution.
The court heard how he hid his ill-gotten gains in tax havens in the British Virgin Islands and Swiss bank accounts.
He also set up companies across the world - including the American state of Delaware - in a bid to confuse the taxman.
Voudouri used some of the cash to pay for an impressive house in Bridge of Allan but was eventually rumbled and brought to justice. However, he jumped bail and went on the run for 15 months.
This sparked an international manhunt involving trans-border law enforcement agencies like Interpol and Scotland Yard.
Housley’s role in Voudouri’s scam saw him hiding £1.8 million of Voudouri’s money. He was jailed for four years whilst 59-year-old book keeper Caroline Laing, who helped Housley, was jailed for two and a half years.
The lawyer put the proceeds of the so called“carousel fraud”into bank accounts in Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Housley, who worked for Gebals Solicitors in Bathgate, West Lothian, first got to know Voudouri in 2002.
The solicitor was later invited to become involved in a business used as a front by Voudouri to hide money from the authorities.
His home was raided by tax inspectors in 2007 and he was brought to stand trial alongside Laing, of Denny.
On Friday, Lord Bannatyne ruled that Housley had to pay the sum to prosecutors within 12 months. He will make the payment to clerks at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.