London barrister jailed after gambling away tax owed

Edward Paul Agbaje, from London, has been jailed for 18 months after collecting £80,000 in tax but failing to pay it to HMRC over a seven year period. Agbaje, who specialises in criminal law and practices in Gray's Inn, London, claimed in court to have gambled the proceeds. He had been deregistered for VAT by HMRC in February 2005 after failing to submit complete VAT returns dating back to 1994. This meant he was barred from trading above the VAT threshold, set at £58,000 in 2005. However, Agbaje continued to trade, paying no VAT from 2 February 2005 to 17 March 2012. He used...