Two men jailed over £5m wine scam

By Emily Kearns

Published: 18 March, 2013

Two men found guilty of smuggling illicit Italian wine into the UK have been jailed following an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.

Roberto Parma, 54, was sentenced to six years and seven months imprisonment, while Alberto Mori, 53, was sentenced to seven years. They imported wine from Italy and sold it on without paying more than £5 million in duty and VAT.

According to the HMRC, Parma, owner of I Nobili UK, imported wine from Italian-based company Cantine Soldo using the UK's duty suspension scheme.

A statement from HMRC read: "Parma and Mori exploited this scheme by using the same delivery documents many times and avoiding paying duty by diverting the wine from the bonded warehouse, when duty would normally be paid.

"Mori, owner of Soldo UK, a London wine merchant, worked with Parma to sell the imported wine illegally through a network of wholesalers around the UK."

HMRC investigators found that Parma's company provided cover for the fraud. It used Skype messaging to orchestrate the movement of wine from Italian warehouses and gave "code words" to drivers to use when picking up the loads, to prevent paperwork landing in official hands.

David Margree, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: "The sole intention of importing this wine was to rip off the honest taxpayer to line their own pockets. These men thought they would use crafty code words and complex chains to avoid detection, but HMRC was able to detect and stop this scam.

"HMRC will not stand by while criminals try to cheat the system. The message is clear - HMRC will find you, and you will go to court."

Parma and Mori were arrested in July 2009 after the discovery of more than 114,000 litres of wine during a search. HMRC investigators realised the scale of the fraud after searching computers and related software.

A further indication of the fraud was revealed to HMRC investigators when stock levels at the UK bonded warehouse showed that wine was being stored for unusually long periods of time.

Parma and Mori skipped bail and returned to Italy, but were tracked down by Italian Police and extradited to the UK in 2012 to stand trial. During the arrest more than £58,000 of cash was seized.

"Confiscation proceedings are underway," HMRC concluded.

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