Cab boss jailed for tax cheating

Gillingham Area News



• Owner of taxis dishonestly concealed earnings, court was told

A TAXI boss has been jailed for fiddling thousands of pounds in income tax, national insurance and VAT.

Randhir Grewal owned a fleet of cabs and rented them to self-employed drivers in Medway. But he insisted that the drivers paid in cash and did not declare earnings to the Inland Revenue.

Jailing Grewal, of Rock Avenue, Gillingham, for nine months, a judge said he reminded himself the prisons were overcrowded but could not suspend the sentence.

The prosecution at Maidstone Crown Court said Grewal profited by £46,560 in income tax and national insurance, plus £13,556 in interest and penalties, and £70,941 in VAT.

He first denied cheating the public revenue but admitted two charges after his trial started. His lawyer submitted that the total figure was around £52,000.

Quentin Hunt, prosecuting, said the income tax offences dated from October 1996 to May 2004.

The 49-year-old, who also worked as a mini-cab driver, did not report his earnings from the business renting out taxis and did not declare his turnover.

"He effectively kept that business, strictly dealt with in cash, to one side, so that the Inland Revenue would not find out he was running it," said Mr Hunt.

"The Crown say this defendant dishonestly concealed these earnings from the Inland Revenue and failed to register for VAT or pay VAT on income from the business."

Imran Mahood, defending, said Grewal, who ran his business from his home, was the first member of his family to be before the courts. Drivers who rented the cabs, some of whom were friends, failed to pay. His family had agreed to help him pay back the money he owed.