UK’s ‘most wanted’ tax criminal sees prison time doubled, says HMRC

One of the UK’s most wanted tax fugitives, who was caught and jailed for eight years last year, has had her sentence more than doubled for failing to repay the money she stole.

Sarah Panitzke was part of a multi-million-pound VAT fraud scheme and became one of the UK’s most wanted criminals after absconding during her trial in 2013.

She spent nine years on the run and was returned to the UK by HMRC in June 2022 and jailed for eight years a month later.

She has now been sentenced to another nine years in prison for failing to repay a £2.4m confiscation order. She faces 17 years in prison and will still owe the money plus interest.

Panitzke was said to have laundered “extraordinary” volumes of stolen money through offshore bank accounts.

The gang she was involved with set up numerous businesses claiming to be legitimately importing and selling mobile phones, but the businesses were a front for a scheme to steal more than £20m in VAT repayments.

HMRC investigators uncovered a “complex web of transactions” they used to launder stolen money through bank accounts in the UK, Andorra, Dubai, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Portugal and the US.

Nicol Sheppard, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Our work doesn’t stop at conviction – we always look to recover the proceeds of crime. Panitzke was part of a criminal gang that stole millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and deprived our public services of vital funding. She failed to repay the money she stole and now faces even more time behind bars, and still owes the money.

“We encourage anyone who has information about a tax crime to report it to HMRC online. Search ‘Report Fraud HMRC’ on GOV.UK and complete our online form.”