An East Lothian man has been told that he has to pay back £600,000 in unpaid tax after his home was raided and over £1million was seized from multiple bank accounts.
It is understood that this incident is one of the nation's biggest ever settlement cases.
Police Scotland kept and eye on Goljar Singh, 44, after several of his bank accounts were seen to have received substantial cash deposits. The Civil Recovery Unit (CRU) and HMRC say that they discovered the payments were being made from the same post office within a matter of weeks in March 2021.
READ MORE: East Lothian mum tells of moment doctor told her baby wouldn't survive
In May of the same year, police secured a warrant to raid Goljar’s home where they found a number of suitcases filled with more than 3,000 envelopes stuffed full of cash - the total amount was more than £690,000. Singh accepted that £600,000 of the total amount was recoverable and handed over the cash, the Daily Record reports.
A further £1million pounds was then seized from bank accounts which belonged to the East Lothian man. The unit say that it is one of their biggest hauls in their history.
Civil provisions within the Proceeds of Crimes Act allow for a non-conviction based civil recovery regime.
Anne-Louise House, the head of the CRU, said: “This case has been an excellent example of inter-agency working between CRU, HMRC and Police Scotland. The resolution represents one of the largest cash sums recovered by the unit.
“The money recovered from this individual has been transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund which invests money to support communities across Scotland, through the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities Programme.
“The Civil Recovery Unit works with other law enforcement agencies to identify and recover the proceeds of crime. Settlements such as this contribute to the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce’s goal of reducing the harm caused by criminal activity.”
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “This is an outstanding result and underlines the value of working closely with our colleagues in the Civil Recovery Unit and HMRC. These investigations can be challenging and complex but with specialist teams working together, we can achieve exceptional outcomes.
“Police Scotland’s Serious and Organised Crime Financial Investigation Unit is committed to targeting individuals and companies who profit from illicit activities, and we will use all available resources to ensure this does not happen. We will continue to work alongside all our partners to deter, disrupt and detect those involved in crime and seek to recover any funds derived from it.”
READ NEXT-
I went for my first-ever smear test in Edinburgh and have some thoughts
Staff at West Lothian petrol station terrified after man with fake gun demands money
Edinburgh man dies after being hit by a bus in city centre tragedy
Edinburgh woman living in middle of graveyard locked in bitter row with council
Edinburgh couple left speechless as TUI cancel dream cruise just three stops in
