Accountant who wrote book on beating taxman caught in £120k fraud
AN ACCOUNTANT who wrote a book on how to beat the taxman was caught cheating HM Revenue and Customs out of £120,000, a court heard.
Former taxman Martyn Arthur, 68, claimed he ‘knew the system inside out’ – but was arrested for conning the public finances for five years.
He wrote a book called The Taxpayer Strikes Back about how to ‘stand up to’ HMRC after leaving a government job to go into private accountancy.
His 2009 book was advertised with the blurb: ‘Martyn has over 40 years’ experience of dealing with tax, accountancy and business issues from every conceivable angle.’
But after his crime was exposed, a judge told him: ‘You are a man who has destroyed your own reputation. You are now professionally worthless.’
He was given a suspended jail sentence after being convicted of cheating £120,000 from tax owed on his earnings.
Prosecutor Anna Midgley said Arthur was an accountant throughout his career, starting at the Inland Revenue – now HMRC – then becoming a self-employed tax adviser.
Miss Midgley told Cardiff Crown Court he submitted inaccurate tax returns and covered his tracks by ‘ keeping incomplete records, using multiple accounts and moving money between them’.
His behaviour ‘went from uncooperative to deliberately hostile and aggressive in a bid to put off investigators’.
He sent so many emails that he made their inquiries more complex.
Miss Midgley said the loss to HMRC was £88,500, plus interest of £31,400.
Arthur was declared bankrupt in 2008 and disqualified from being a company director but continued to run a business in his wife’s name.
He had denied two counts of cheating public revenue. The court heard he had been drinking half a bottle of spirits a day since he was 18.
Arthur, 68, of Newton, Porthcawl, South Wales, said: ‘It’s time for me to make changes to my life. I am ashamed.’
Judge Michael Fitton said he ‘ bombarded’ HMRC with emails ‘to make yourself such a pain for them to deal with’ and added: ‘You are now convicted as a cheat and a fraudster.’
Arthur was given an 18month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He was disqualified from being a company director for five years, and there will be a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing to recover money for HMRC.