Producer among Britain’s ‘most wanted’ for fraud

LONDON: Sandeep Arora, known in Indian film circles as Karan Arora, has been named by UK’s anti-fraud task force as one of the 10 most wanted for fraud worth more

Published on: Jul 20, 2016, 08:24:53 IST

By Prasun Sonwalkar

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

LONDON: Sandeep Arora, known in Indian film circles as Karan Arora, has been named by UK’s anti-fraud task force as one of the 10 most wanted for fraud worth more than £20 million.

Arora, 42, is accused of fraud worth £4.5 million and is said to be currently in India. The list of most wanted has been drawn up by the City of London Police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) through an initiative led by the former home secretary and current Prime Minister Theresa May.

The NCA said Arora is wanted by the Revenue and Customs for falsely claiming value added tax and film tax rebate for movies that did not exist or in which he had no involvement. Between 2007 and 2011, he set up a production company with offices in central London and lived in Beckton, east London.

Under British tax law, a film production company of qualifying films can claim a cash rebate of up to 25% of UK qualifying expenditure. There is no budget limit, according to the British Film Commission. In 2013, some Indian-origin people were sentenced for fraud related to claiming tax rebate for non-existent Bollywood films.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prasun Sonwalkar
Prasun Sonwalkar was Editor (UK & Europe), Hindustan Times. During more than three decades, he held senior positions on the Desk, besides reporting from India’s north-east and other states, including a decade covering politics from New Delhi. He has been reporting from UK and Europe since 1999.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.