A Co Clare-based computer company boss teamed up with English fraudsters to cheat the British taxman out of £14 million (€20.5 million), a court in London heard today.
For nearly a year Dylan Creaven (31), supplied "vast" consignments of VAT-free chips to a "motley" array of off-the-shelf firms.
On the face of it they had been set up to sell goods such as underwear, rum and garden fencing; in reality the "ramshackle collection" of concerns "existed only for fraud", London's Blackfriars Crown Court was told.
David Cocks QC, prosecuting, said once they had sold the high-value "processing units" to others, they disappeared with the VAT they had charged. He claimed that in the meantime the missing cash had been sent "on instructions" to Mr Creaven.
Mr Creaven, of Woodstock, Ennis, Co Clare, denies two counts of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue between December 29th, 2000 and October 13th the following year.
PA