Sukhninder Singh of Penny Cress Drive, Thetford, at Norwich Court for fraud and tax evasion charges.

A Norfolk gangmaster who ran a profitable wholesale company supplying herbs grown by Norfolk farmers has been jailed for 18 months for evading more than £350,000 by failing to make any returns for his thriving business, which was said to have a £1.6 million trading profit.

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Sukhninder Singh, 52, employed no book-keeper or accountant and kept no books to keep track on income and expenditure of the business, in which he got Norfolk farmers to either grow crops for him or he leased land from them. He then got his own large number of workers to harvest the herbs, including coriander.

Singh ran the operation over a five year period from 2003 to 2008 in which he had £2 million pass through his bank account and was said to have had a £1.6 million trading profit.

His operation was finally uncovered after a long and complex investigation by officers from HM Revenue and Customs after joint raids in October 2009 by HMRC, the UK Border Agency, police and the gangmaster licensing authority. Investigators uncovered a smokescreen of companies and periods of self-employment and found that there had been no tax, VAT and PAYE returns submitted.

Nick Staite, prosecuting on behalf of HMRC, said that Singh operated either as a private limited company or as a sole trader and at no time was any of the income disclosed to the revenue.

He said HMRC forensic accountant used seized documents and bank records to recontruct accounts and estimate the tax loss.

He said when asked about his failure to disclose his earnings Singh said that he regretted the fact he had not engaged an accountant to deal with his tax affairs.

Singh of Pennycress Drive, Thetford, admitted cheating HMRC between April 2003 and October 2009.

Jailing him Judge Peter Jacobs told him: “Firstly you kept no books and it is perfectly clear you had no intention of declaring anything at all to the Inland Revenue. It is difficult even now to get the full extent of your dealings.

“There never was the slightest intention to declare this revenue to those who were entitled to know.”

He also banned Singh from acting as a company director for three years and postponed a confiscation hearing into seizing his assets to a later date.

Shiraz Aziz, for Singh, said the operation run by him had been “scatty”. “There were no proper records kept, it was not that he was deliberately trying to keep things from the Inland Revenue.”

He said Singh now understood that what he did was wrong.

He added Singh was married with two young children one of whom was disabled and any time in custody would be hard on them. Mr Aziz said: “He is not a prolific fraudster.”

After the case Graham Ranson, assistant director criminal investigation of the criminal taxes unit of HMRC, said: “We take tax fraud very seriously. Those involved in this type of activity give themselves an advantage over those honest businesses that play by the rules and that simply is not fair or legal. We will work closely with our colleagues in the police and other enforcement agencies to stop the damage that such activities cause.”

Anyone with any information about tax fraud can contact the HMRC hotline on 0800 59 5000.

christine.cunningham@archant.co.uk