A Scots conman involved in a £20million (Sh3.39 billion) VAT tax fraud is wanted in Kenya for unpaid debt to one of Africa’s biggest telecommunication companies.
Leslie Thompson, from Bathgate, West Lothian, is being sued by a telco after fleeing the country with his former firm owing £709,000 (Sh119,699,548).
Separately, Thompson was one of 20 fraudsters convicted as part of a conspiracy to defraud the UK public purse following a decade-long HMRC (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs) probe. He was jailed for six years in March 2024.
The HMRC is the UK's agency responsible for collecting taxes, including income tax, VAT, corporation tax and National Insurance contributions.
Court documents from the telco’s lawsuit in Kenya, seen by the Sunday Mail, show Thompson’s firm abandoned its offices in the capital, Nairobi, in 2016 and transferred its shares to a company registered in the Seychelles, an offshore tax haven.
They allege this was “an engineered ploy” for Thompson and a second business partner to flee the East African nation and “escape paying the debt due” to the telco firm.
Thompson’s company, iPhone Global Systems Ltd, which offered voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services, had entered a deal with the telco in 2006 to connect their networks.
In November, Thompson’s family was convicted of a massive £20 million tax scam, which HMRC exposed after a major investigation.
Leslie was jailed for six years, and wife, Beverley, 60, handed a two-year suspended sentence over the plot involving metals and electrical goods.
Leslie’s son, Andrew Collins, 41, was handed a 22-month suspended jail sentence over his part in the scheme to rip off taxpayers.
The family, from Bathgate, West Lothian, were part of a sprawling conspiracy which was only cracked after a decade-long HMRC probe, which has seen 20 people convicted across four separate criminal trials.
Leslie and Beverley enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with two homes in Florida before finally being brought to justice.
Richard Las, director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This incredibly complex fraud was dismantled thanks to the tenacity, skill and dedication of our criminal investigators.
“I hope this sends a clear message to anyone involved in tax fraud that, regardless of how complex it may be, we have the skills, resources and the determination to catch you and to bring you to justice.
“The scale of the sentences and the significant director disqualifications show how seriously the courts have treated this sustained and sophisticated attack on the UK tax system.
