Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury woman cleared over £5 million gift aid scam

A Shrewsbury woman has been cleared of any involvement in a £5 million charity gift aid scam.

Published

Melody Davies, of Nettles Lane, was found not guilty of money laundering and two counts of cheating the public revenue.

But her father and brother are facing jail after being convicted of involvement in the scam

John Davies, 58, pocketed vast sums in tax relief paid by the government by organising Gift Aid repayments through the Sompan Foundation and Kurbet Foundation.

But many individuals said to have donated to the charities did not even exist, Southwark Crown Court heard.

His son Benjamin Davies, 31, was also found guilty of money laundering.

John Davies and a fourth defendant Olsi Vullnetari, 38, were found guilty of cheating public revenue and money laundering between June 2005 and January 2014 after a six week trial.

Benjamin Davies was found guilty of money laundering but cleared of the other two charges.

Melody Davies hugged her brother as jurors returned their verdicts after more than 18 hours of deliberation.

The court heard Sompan provides relief for women and children in poverty while the Kurbet Foundation focuses on the well-being of migrants.

David Hughes, prosecuting, said: "Behind this case is the tradition that we have in this country among people, no doubt yourselves included, of donating to charity.

"The government supports charities by what is known as gift aid tax relief.

"Here we say what is being stated is 'We have had a donation, please give us the gift aid relief'. This was just a complete sham.

"For all of those there has been no donation, no entitlement to gift aid, no entitlement to any money from the government."

Fraudulent tax repayments were claimed on behalf of the Sompan Foundation worth £3,294,450.43 between March 2007 and January 2014 while the Kurbet Foundation received £1,743,748.20.

Money was sent to 15 countries including Ireland, the US and UAE from the Sompan foundation with almost half the funds being diverted to Hungary.

The Davies family owned a holiday home in Balástya, Hungary, where a significant part of the money was sent.

When asked if she knew where the money came from, Melody Davies replied: "I thought my dad paid it into there."

She claimed that she had no knowledge whatsoever as to whether or not those funds could have been paid from the charity.

Vullnetari had been a trustee of the Sompan foundation from November 2004 until January 2008 when Benjamin Davies became a trustee until he resigned in August 2012.

He carried out some of the transactions by "hijacking" the identity of Thomas Hamilton and had a fake passport which he used to pretend this was his true identity.

The real Thomas Hamilton was a vice principal at a school in Coleraine, Northern Ireland and was unaware of the charities until he was contacted by investigators.

Jurors saw a photocopy of a passport which held Mr Hamilton's name but featured a picture of Vullnetari.

John Davies, of Mill Road, Esher, Surrey, and Vullnetari, of Charney Avenue, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, were found guilty of two counts of cheating the public revenue and one of money laundering.

Benjamin Davies, of Allanson Road, Manchester, was found guilty of money laundering but cleared of two counts of cheating the public revenue.

The three men will be sentenced on May 13.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.