Accountant ordered to repay £1.2m from £3m tax fraud gains

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 14 Oct, 01:02 · Archive

Kenneth Scott, jailed for cheating the taxman, must repay £1.2m of the £3.3m he obtained through his crimes.

Kenneth Scott, a County Durham accountant, has been ordered to pay back £1.2m of the £3.3m he obtained through tax fraud. He was jailed for four years last year after admitting two charges of cheating the revenue between April 2014 and March 2021. A court hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act found his total benefit from the offending was £3,308,058.

Scott spent lavishly on his ill-gotten gains. He purchased a £73,000 Aston Martin DB9 and spent £44,000, £23,000 and £13,000 on individual holidays. When interviewed in 2021, he admitted his spending had been 'a bit over the top' and already had a £5,000 cruise booked.

Scott operated seven financial services companies with offices in Newcastle, South Shields, Hexham and County Durham. The 27 employees of these firms had tax and national insurance deducted from their wages but the money was never passed to the Inland Revenue. Clients were charged VAT despite the group not being registered, and this money was also not handed to HMRC.

The court ruled that Scott's available assets amount to £1,269,660, which he must pay back or face a potential seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence in default. He was also banned from being a company director for ten years.

How it is being reported

• Crooked North East accountant who pocketed £3.3m for luxury holidays and Aston Martin faces paybackKenneth Scott, of County Durham, was jailed last year and has now been ordered to pay back some of his ill-gotten gainsChronicleLive · 14 Oct, 00:24
• Crooked Sunderland accountant Kenneth Scott pocketed more than £3m through his crimesA disgraced businessman who splashed out on luxury holidays and a flash car while cheating the taxman pocketed more than £3m through his crimes, a judge has ruled.Sunderland Echo · 13 Oct, 14:48

In this story: Kenneth Scott · Newcastle Crown Court · County Durham · Newcastle · South Shields · Hexham

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