Film tax fraudsters sentenced to jail

HM Revenue and Customs found ‘A Landscape of Lives', which it claimed starred several A-list actors with a budget of £19m, was never intended to be filmed. The gang successfully claimed £1.5m in VAT along with £1.3m in film tax credits before attracting the attention of HMRC. In an attempt to cover their tracks, Bashar Al-Issa, Aoife Madden, Tariq Hassan, Ian Sherwood and Osama Al Baghdady then filmed ‘A Landscape of Lies', starring former Eastenders actor Marc Bannerman and Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean, on a shoestring budget. John Pointing, assistant director of criminal i...