A SHAMED business owner caught in a £18,000 VAT fraud and tried to blame his accountant has avoided jail.

Anthony Amankwah - a director of a television repair firm in Govan - filed bogus claims to HMRC between October 2015 and July 2017.

The 35-year-old, of Ratho near Edinburgh, told officials he purchased TVs and exported them to Ghana in order to receive VAT repayments.

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An investigation found that these transactions had not taken place.

Amankwah was quizzed and pointed the finger at his accountant Samuel Judge as the person who controlled his affairs.

But, Amankwah, a first offender, pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to £18,000 VAT fraud and £10,000 in attempted VAT fraud.

He was tagged for 12 months keeping him in doors between 8:30am to 6pm.

Sheriff Joan Kerr told him at sentencing: "You depraved everyone of public funds."

"You had made a fairly substantially repayment, you done what you said you would."

The court heard the Ghanaian national was the director of Atek Direct Limited, a TV repair company based in the city's Govan.

Amankwah was successful in claiming several repayments below £500.

A claim for £6,509 in December 2015 and further claims in 2016 totalling £18,000 were also granted by HMRC.

But, a final claim for £10,000 was refused as "it appeared to be fraudulent."

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An HMRC investigation resulted in a meeting with Amankwah and Mr Judge.

Prosecutor Graham Macdonald said: "It was established that Amankwah provided the details of the company's financial affairs to Mr Judge who submitted the VAT returns to HMRC on his behalf.

"Amankwah claimed that the main business of the company was to buy TVs and export them to Ghana.

"He handed over various bank statements and financial documents to support the sales in the electronic VAT returns.

"The basis of the claims for repayment of VAT was that the company was entitled to a refund because TVs said to have been bought by the company had been exported to Ghana.

"Investigations indicated that these purchases and exports to Ghana had not taken place."

Amankwah claimed to have used another company to export the televisions, but this was also untrue.

Amankwah was interviewed by police where he stated that 80% of his business was purchases and exports of goods.

Mr Macdonald added: "He was asked about lack of paperwork to prove the exports had been made to Ghana.

"He simply said that he had passed everything to his accountant Mr Judge."