A Swanscombe man is one of three people jailed for a £6.9 million tax fraud that funded luxury lifestyles and paid off debts.

Payroll administrator Christopher Azzopardi, 37, of Church Road, was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and was jailed for four years for his part in the embezzlement that was carried out over two-and-a-half years.

Aquil Ahmed, 60, an accountant from West Malling, and Victor Shearer, 43, a construction services company director, from Kings Hill in Kent, were sent to prison for seven years eight months and seven years six months respectively for their roles in the con.

Azzopardi helped defraud HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of VAT, income tax, National Insurance contributions and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions.

The men attempted to hide their fraud by using a complex network of companies and bank accounts in the UK and offshore, but their crimes were uncovered by investigators.

Ahmed employed Christopher Azzopardi to operate payroll services for clients through his various companies, supposedly calculating wages and paying any tax due.

Clients were charged VAT on these services, but neither the VAT nor other deductions were paid across HMRC.

Shearer’s company, Leaner Logistics, supplies short-term contractors to the construction industry, mainly in London and the south east. Often providing hundreds of workers at a time, Shearer turned to Ahmed’s Rochester based Keepers companies to run his payroll and CIS.

Shearer introduced other clients to the payroll company, who also used this fraudulent scheme.

The three men, who were arrested in 2012 and 2013, stole the money to fund Ahmed and Shearer’s lavish lifestyles, with Ahmed owning a Bentley; buying various properties and taking multiple foreign holidays.

Vast sums were spent by Shearer on property and high-living, ski holidays, cars and treating friends, family and clients.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Azzopardi was in debt.

Ahmed paid him around £60,000 a year, double a usual bookkeeper’s wage, for his role in the fraud with no tax paid on his salary.

Chris Gill, assistant director of the HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “These men were driven by greed, abusing systems that are designed to ensure workers are paid correctly and taxes paid to HMRC.

“They were all professionals who knew they were breaking the law, but as an accountant Ahmed was in a position of trust, making his part in the conspiracy even more deplorable.

“These criminals thought they’d created a sophisticated fraud, and that by operating through numerous UK and offshore companies, they could hide what they were doing. But our investigations are thorough, and with assistance from authorities in Gibraltar, we unravelled the many layers they’d created and they are now paying the price for their crimes.

“This investigation shows that regardless of the resources of those involved, or how hard they try to hide their crime, no one is beyond our reach.

“Tax evasion isn’t victimless, it is theft from public services used by us all. If you know of anyone who is committing tax fraud please call our 24-hour hotline on 0800 59 5000 and help us stamp it out.”