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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Film tax-credit fraudsters jailed | Film tax-credit fraudsters jailed |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Five fraudsters who pretended to be making a Hollywood blockbuster as part of a £2.8m VAT and film tax credits scam have been jailed. | Five fraudsters who pretended to be making a Hollywood blockbuster as part of a £2.8m VAT and film tax credits scam have been jailed. |
| Tax inspectors were told that A-listers from Hollywood were starring in a £19.6m production that would be shot in the UK. | Tax inspectors were told that A-listers from Hollywood were starring in a £19.6m production that would be shot in the UK. |
| But the film, Landscape of Lies, was never made and the only footage shot was seven minutes of "completely unusable quality" filmed in a flat and costing just £5,000. | But the film, Landscape of Lies, was never made and the only footage shot was seven minutes of "completely unusable quality" filmed in a flat and costing just £5,000. |
| Bashar al-Issa, 34, a former Iraqi national who is now British, of Maida Vale, London, was described as the orchestrator of the fraud. He was jailed for six and a half years by Judge Juliet May, sitting at Southwark crown court in London. | Bashar al-Issa, 34, a former Iraqi national who is now British, of Maida Vale, London, was described as the orchestrator of the fraud. He was jailed for six and a half years by Judge Juliet May, sitting at Southwark crown court in London. |
| Aoife Madden, 31, an actor of British and Irish nationality from west London, was sentenced to four years and eight months. She was said to have submitted a "pack of lies" to inspectors about the project. | Aoife Madden, 31, an actor of British and Irish nationality from west London, was sentenced to four years and eight months. She was said to have submitted a "pack of lies" to inspectors about the project. |
| Two other defendants in the scam - Tariq Hassan, 52, a Pakistani national from Loughton in Essex, and Osama al-Baghdady, 51, an Iraqi national from Crumpsall in Manchester, each received four-year prison sentences. | Two other defendants in the scam - Tariq Hassan, 52, a Pakistani national from Loughton in Essex, and Osama al-Baghdady, 51, an Iraqi national from Crumpsall in Manchester, each received four-year prison sentences. |
| A fifth defendant, Ian Sherwood, 53, an architect from Sale, Manchester, who allowed his offices to be used for the fraud, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. | A fifth defendant, Ian Sherwood, 53, an architect from Sale, Manchester, who allowed his offices to be used for the fraud, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. |
| May said the fraud had been based on an "entirely bogus film project". | May said the fraud had been based on an "entirely bogus film project". |
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