Fraudster son dies on the run
Probe to find criminal assets goes on despite death of VAT conman
A fugitive fraudster who went on the run 10 years ago has died without facing justice.
Gareth Johnson became one of the most wanted men in Britain after he failed to show up for a trial in 2013 over charges of defrauding the taxman of £109million through a VAT fiddle.
Last week we reported how his father, Geoffrey Johnson, 79, passed away earlier this month while serving a 10-year jail term for the same offences. Now we can reveal that Gareth, 53, from Forfar, died more than a year ago in South Africa.
Despite his death, investigations are still being carried out to track down his criminal assets and those of his father. HMRC were told officially about his death last January. It is understood he died several months earlier.
HMRC declined to say why news of his death has not been made public until now.
A spokesperson said: “We carried out intensive international enquiries and are now withdrawing the warrant for his arrest.”
Before his death, the hunt for Gareth had stretched from Scotland to Tanzania, Kenya and the Middle East.
For a period he hid out in Tanzanian city D ares Salaam and a rural town called Iringa 300 miles away. In Tanzania he and his dad ran a plant hire firm, clubs and restaurants. After their cover was blown, Gareth fled to Kenyan capital Nairobi while his dad went to Mombasa.
Gareth was behind a Dubai- based firm called Tectonics Holdings, which played a key role in the fraud as the money laundering arm of the operation. The Johnsons used bogus mobile phone firms to make fraudulent claims for VAT rebates in a scam known as carousel fraud.
They lived in 10-bed Turin House in Forfar, which later sold for £1.2million. They also owned a £3million home in Staffordshire. It was among the assets seized by HMRC as well as a yacht, cars, two helicopters and diamonds.