A SECURITY firm boss was asked to provide an invoice for £400,000 by two sisters accused of a £161m VAT fraud, a court heard.
Daniel Dilks said the request for a bill from Andrea Vaughan-Owen, 42, and sister Roberta, 37, was the largest he had ever received.
The jury in the trial of the sisters, of Upper Colwyn Bay, were told Mr Dilks, 32, was called in after Andrea’s ex-partner had put hypodermic needles under her front door.
They asked him to send them an invoice for £400,000 in addition to £70,000 in VAT, Caernarfon Crown Court heard. The jury was also told that Roberta said she’d had problems filling in Department for Work and Pensions forms, and asked the DWP to pay for dyslexia tests for her and Andrea in 2003. Roberta also accused an agency which helps disabled people set up businesses of discrimination, after it refused her £300.
Prosecutor Paul Taylor said Andrea’s former partner was leaving the needles in 2008 and so the sisters called in Mr Dilks. Mr Dilks, who ran a company called Closed Protection Services, told the court he was asked to provide an invoice for 12 monthly fees of £33,600 each, making a total of £403,200, to be sent to the sisters on one single invoice.
He also said there were up to 20 phone calls a day “mainly” from Robbie (Roberta) to his landline and mobile number during his dealings with them, and it became “annoying” so he changed his phone number.
He only agreed to supply separate invoices with “Specimen” on them.
Mr Dilks was also called on by the sisters to use another of his companies to provide £750,000 worth of bridging loans to buy property.
Under cross examination by Andrea’s barrister Lee Karu QC, Mr Dilks said he helped people in the “sub prime market”, who may not get loans from high street banks, to secure loans.
Earlier, the court was told Roberta had struggled to fill in forms for the DWP for claims in 2003 and wanted them to pay for the dyslexia tests.
Prosecutor Mr Taylor read out a letter to the DWP from Roberta, quoting her as saying: “I don’t understand your letter. I have severe difficulties completing forms which take me twice as long as ordinary people. I trust that you are disability aware. I thought you would have twigged by now why it’s taking so long.
“Can you pay for a test for me for dyslexia please so I can start to take some simple instructions? The same applies for my sister (Andrea Vaughan-Owen).”
On another occasion, Mr Taylor said the sisters had approached Broker Cymru for help to invest in a business they said they were setting up. But then Roberta accused Broker Cymru – which helps people eligible for the New Deal for Disabled People programme to gain secure employment – of discriminating against her because she was disabled.
Roberta told Broker Cymru on June 24 2003: “I have been showing signs of dyspraxia or dyslexia. I can prove that (one employee) said, ‘If you can’t sustain (the business) with all your disabilities why should we invest?’ I have a witness – my sister. If an employer said that to an employee they could be taken to a tribunal. Please send me an adviser who is empathetic towards disability.”
The sisters deny furnishing false information by submitting a claim for a VAT refund of £161m in 2008, registering companies for VAT purposes and attempting to obtain invoices to substantiate a claim for a VAT repayment, insurance fraud and being involved in fraudulent activity to obtain tax credit payments. The case continues.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2011/11/15/north-wales-sisters-asked-for-400k-invoice-for-home-security-jury-told-55578-29777050/
