Two men involved in a £78 million mortgage fraud and an attempted £12 million VAT fraud have both been jailed for seven years.

Martin Conrad, (32) (also known as Mitain Conrad, Mitain Patel, and Conrad Martin) from Mauritius, (formerly of Wimbledon, London and Caterham, Surrey) and Richard Murkin (44) of Ashford, Kent, pleaded guilty in January 2011 to the fraudulent attempts to obtain a VAT repayment. They also pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud, attempted mortgage fraud and money laundering offences after a Metropolitan Police investigation.

They were both sentenced to five years for the mortgage fraud and two years for the VAT fraud, to run consecutively, at Southwark Crown Court.

HM Revenue & Customs investigators discovered that the two men had hijacked plans of a hotel project in Mauritius. They signed contracts with furniture providers to furnish the project and tried to reclaim over £12 million in VAT from HMRC. The fraud was discovered before any money was paid out.

£8.8 million was paid out to the fraudsters in mortgage payments, but intervention by the Metropolitan Police prevented a further £70 million in fraudulent mortgage payments being made in relation to the purchase of two commercial premises.

Chris Martin, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: “HMRC worked alongside the Metropolitan Police to bring these fraudsters to justice. Tax evasion is serious