A Case for Inspector Montalbano

The owner of Ferrati's Italian Restaurant in Mossley has been jailed for 9 months (followed by another 9 months on license) after he was convicted of tax evasion.

Sahit Ferati did not declare all his sales at the restaurant, over the space of five years, avoiding paying £63,000 in income tax and VAT.

He was caught after HMRC inspectors bought a meal at Ferrati's but, on later inspection, found that he had not put it through the books.  

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Tim Atkins of HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service said: “Ferati fiddled his books to pocket enough public money to pay the salaries of two qualified nurses for a year. This sentence should give him food for thought."

It is a pity that other business owners can also get away without paying tax (and thus nurses' salaries) by legally, if not morally, being allowed to place a company in administration and starting again under a new name - something we reported on earlier this month here.

• Italian restaurants in Manchester
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