Man didn't pay tax 'because drug deal failed'

13 April 2012

A businessman who claimed he could not pay his tax bill because he had lost almost £200,000 in a huge drugs deal has been jailed for eight months, it emerged today.

Anthony Hurley was given a tax demand for £42,000 in January 1999, but failed to declare hundreds of thousands of pounds that he made from the sale of two houses over the next six months.

When questioned on the whereabouts of the money, the 53-year-old said he had used £30,000 to repay drugs debts, and lost another £190,000 in a botched deal to supply large quantities of cocaine.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Hurley sold the first house, in St Mary Cray, Kent, four days after the first bill from the Inland Revenue, making £44,000 profit.

In June 1999 he earned £170,000 from the sale of another house in Bromley, and cashed a £17,000 endowment policy.

Lawyers from the Department of Trade and Industry claimed during the hearing that Hurley, of Maxwell Gardens in Orpington, Kent, had disposed of his property as a way of avoiding the tax debt.

All the money was withdrawn from his bank account, and nothing was paid to the Inland Revenue before Hurley was made bankrupt at his own request in September 2001.

He was found guilty of three offences of fraudulently disposing of the properties following a three-day trial.

Sentencing Hurley at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday, Recorder Mr Kenneth Hamer described his actions as "premeditated".

The Recorder said he did not believe the businessman's story about the drugs deal and that Hurley still had the money but would not reveal its whereabouts.

The case was adjourned for a financial investigation prior to a confiscation hearing on September 3.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in