UAE catches UK super thief

Gulf News

Simon York, director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, was in Dubai last week to meet UAE law enforcement partners in their fight against organised crime, tax evasion and other financial crimes. The visit followed the July arrest of one of the UK’s most wanted tax dodgers, Geoffrey Johnson. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00We're here this week to work with the law enforcement authorities in Dubai.

00:10We have a common mission in combating international crime and we're here to strengthen and deepen

00:16that partnership this week.

00:17I'm particularly here to recognise the contribution of the agencies in Dubai who've helped us

00:24a lot over the years, but particularly recently this year with the deportation of one of our

00:28most wanted criminals, Geoffrey Johnson.

00:30Geoffrey Johnson was someone who'd stolen over £100 million from the UK.

00:35He'd been sentenced to jail but fled the UK.

00:39He was travelling through Dubai and one of your very diligent immigration officials noticed

00:45he was travelling on a false passport, so all the wheels went into motion, all the different

00:49parts of Dubai.

00:53Authorities came together and we were able to deport him within four days.

00:56These people steal literally hundreds of millions of pounds from the UK, so that is

01:01money that is intended for really vital public services, the public services that provide

01:07our hospitals, our schools, our roads, so it's really important that we track these

01:11guys down and bring them back to the UK and recover that money.

01:15So my message is that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is working really closely with

01:20the UAE authorities to make sure that nobody's beyond our reach, to make sure that the UAE

01:26is not a sanctuary for tax criminals.

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