Beer smugglers jailed for seven years

Two fraudsters who spearheaded a Polish beer smuggling scam have been jailed for a total of seven years.

Radoslaw Dobron, 36, and Ilona Leszczynska, 37, smuggled 122 lorry loads of non UK-duty paid beer via a North London based alcohol wholesaler.

The beer, worth more than £3.1 million in evaded duty, was smuggled to Top Seller Ltd by abusing a commercial importers scheme.

The Polish branded beer including Tyskie, Lech, Perla and Zubbr, was then sold in ‘off-book’ sales to retailers. An estimated £4.2 million was made as profit which was then laundered.

Officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) arrested company Director Dobron and office manager Leszczynska in Essex in February 2018.

Carmine di Franco, Assistant Director in HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said:

“Smuggling millions of cans of cheap beer gave them an unfair advantage over the law-abiding majority and deprived our vital public services of funds.

“Disrupting the criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clamp down on the illicit alcohol market which costs the UK around £1 billion per year.

“Anyone with information about people or businesses involved in the sale, storage or smuggling of illicit alcohol can contact the HMRC hotline on 0800 788 887.”

Dobron admitted cheating the public revenue, money laundering and VAT fraud in July 2022, and was jailed for three years and eight months. Leszcynska was convicted of cheating the public revenue and VAT fraud following a four-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court that finished in June 2023. She was jailed today for three years and four months.

Meanwhile three men who were jailed in 2021 for posing as legitimate alcohol businesses to launder millions of pounds through shell companies have been ordered to pay back £2.7million of face an extra 15 years in prison. Another £1million has already been seized and forfeited.

Santokh Singh Bharj, 56, Mandeep Singh Dhillon, 43 and Avtar Singh Mann, 52, were found guilty in July 2021 of conspiracy to convert criminal property and jailed for a total of 16 years. The laundered money was believed to derive from the sale of non-duty paid alcohol.

Notes to Editors

1. Radoslaw Dobron (DOB 12/11/1986) of Pozanska Nowy, Tomysl, Poland, pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue, money laundering and VAT fraud, between August 2017 and February 2018, on 29/07/22. He was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison on 3 July 2023.
2. Ilona Leszczynska (DOB 05/04/1986) of Schoolfield Road, Grays, Essex, was found guilty after trial of cheating the public revenue and VAT fraud, between August 2017 and February 2018, on 06/06/23. She was sentenced to three years and four months in prison on 26 July 2023.
3. You can read more about the £25m money laundering convictions here: https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/hm-revenue-customs-hmrc/pressreleases/duo-jailed-for-laundering-25-pounds-million-3134407 Following a confiscation hearing at Southwark Crown Court on June 21, 2023:
4. Santokh Singh Bharj, from Romford, London was ordered to pay back £353,600.53 within three months or face an extra three-and-a-half years in prison
5. Mandeep Singh Dhillon, from Mottingham, London, was ordered to pay back £249,679.24 within three months or face an extra two-and-a-half years in prison
6. Avtar Singh Mann, from Loughton, Essex, was ordered to pay back £1,178,886.35 within three months or face an extra nine years in prison
7. Follow HMRC’s Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice.