Barrister sent to jail for tax fraud

Rohan Pershad, 44, of London, was convicted after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigators found he had failed to declare or pay £627,839 of VAT for 12 years. Pershad, who practiced in London, instead spent the cash on two luxury homes in Surrey and Somerset, and private school fees for his children. Pershad's VAT registration was cancelled by HMRC in 2003 with effect from 1999, after a history of failure to submit tax returns and to tell HMRC about a change of address. Pershad effectively became a "missing trader", disappearing below the VAT radar. This meant he was unable le...