18 months in an attempt to bring £4,328,386 in fraudulent VAT claims. Most of the companies had never carried out any building work or traded legitimately during that period. The gang offered people up to £35,000 to act as puppet directors and allow the gang to use their names and addresses to set up the bogus companies. They also issued fake invoices and receipts from some of the UK's leading building suppliers, none of whom had ever dealt with or heard of the companies run by the gang, as well as bogus building contracts for housing developments including a £3.5m development in the West Midlands.
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