The four owners of a chain of upmarket Indian restaurants in the West Midlands were convicted of Common Cheat and given jail sentences totalling 10 years this week: after their £800,000 tax fraud was uncovered by HMRC.

Mizanur Rahman (aged 44), Sadiqur Rahman (45), Mohammed Sharif Uddin (48), and Abul Kamal (41), ran a small chain of Indian restaurants, trading as Panache: in Sutton Coldfield; Stafford; and Lichfield.  For 6 years the four men hid takings and pocketed staff tips: evading more than £500,000 in tax.  They also made fraudulent claims for tax credits totalling £295,000. The Rahmans also failed to pay £240,000 VAT on the sale of their Stafford and Lichfield restaurants.

Following an in-depth tax investigation HMRC decided to conduct their enquiries on criminal lines.  Tax investigators arrested the four in 2015, when a search of their homes unearthed records of the true cash takings: which the judge referred to as “shadow books”.

This week the Rahmans were each jailed for three years.  Uddin and Kamal both received suspended two-year prison sentences. All four were also disqualified from acting as directors for a total of 24 years.

HMRC has already recovered more than £538,000, and confiscation proceedings for the rest have started. A spokesman for HMRC Fraud Investigation Service said: “They are all now paying the price and we will be taking the money back from them”.

How Could Lynam Tax Enquiry Experts Help Me?
We have decades of extensive practical experience in managing tax disclosures and tax fraud investigations. If you have irregularities in your tax affairs we can advise you on your best course of action. If appropriate, we will help you with any disclosure. If you are already under criminal investigation we can assist in the preparation of the defence case. We can help get the best possible outcome for you, your business and your family.

*For a free, private, no obligation consultation, call

Paul Lynam: 0845 643 9997

Andrew Nutbrown: 07718 778710