A former Scottish conservative party treasurer was involved in a VAT fraud of £ 1 million and money laundering.
Malcolm Macaskill, 65, submitted fake forms to HMRC that roughly win the sale of its sandwich companies overly more than £ 800,000.
He was also £ 200,000 of his unlawfully obtained profits by his local Tory locations in Glasgow and Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, where he was both treasurer and chairman of the deputy.
Furthermore, cash was then made by the bank accounts of his current wife and his ex.
Macaskill went on a regular vacation, bought a Harley Davidson Motorbike and also traveled to London for shop trips to the chic store Harrods.
He was confronted with a number of charges, including involved in a fraudulent VAT scheme and receiving criminal property.
But Macaskill, from Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, was deemed to be unsuitable for a brain tumor.
An investigation into the hearing of the facts – without a jury – took place instead at Glasgow Sheriff Court to investigate the circumstances of the case.
Malcolm Macaskill was involved in a VAT fraud of £ 1 million and money laundering
Macaskill went on regular holidays during money laundering via local Tory parties and the bank accounts of his wives
Sheriff Paul Reid concluded that the facts against Macaskill were 'established'.
Macaskill was not present most of the hearing. He continues to live at his house.
The case was postponed until later this year.
The scam took place between February 2003 and March 2014.
Macaskill led the Bigga Bites and Kwik Snax Sandwich production companies from a factory in Cambuslang.
The court heard that he had submitted 34 false VAT return forms that authorized the reimbursements of £ 829,320 via Bigga Bites.
He also made a fake claim from an NHS contract with his company to get £ 88,543 from a VAT return claim in 2008.
Macaskill then made cash deposits of the fraud on the bank accounts of the Rutherdlen and Cambuslang Conservative Association (RCCA) and the Glasgow Conservative Campaign Forum.
A total of 11 checks were pronounced to Kwik Snax of the RCCA General Account with a value of £ 8,617.
Another 52 checks of a total of £ 193,790 were made to Kwik Snax from the campaignforum, while two checks worth £ 6,300 were also made to directly from the organization in Macaskill.
Reporting on the case was postponed until the end of the process of his current wife Louise Macaskill and former armor Moya Macaskill.
Their charge for acquiring £ 864,961 of criminal property was not proven against both after six days of evidence.
Louise Macaskill told the court in her proof that she 'did not identify' that £ 104,554 had also introduced her bank account for a period of four years and eight months until 2014.
The 64-year-old, who worked for Lloyds TSB and Clydesdale Bank, said: “I know I worked for many hours and got a good wage, a pension and a flat.”
She admitted £ 20,000 to the business account of Macaskill that she claimed was to 'help' him.
The process heard that in 2009 £ 9,000 was withdrawn that was used to buy a Harley Davidson engine.
She insisted that she did not know the full size of her husband's fraud until the evidence came to court.
Macaskill's ex-wife Moya, also 64, said jury members that she helped with running his sandwich company, but received no wages, but received large amounts she used to cover the accounts of her and the company.
Macaskill also bought a Harley Davidson engine and enjoyed shop trips in London
She stated that she was not aware of the fraud and that she would 'have not been happy' knowing that the money came from the proceeds of crime.
Macaskill was set to stand with the two women, but it turned out that in 2022 he was diagnosed with a tumor in the pituitary gland of his brain.
At the end of the investigation of the factory session, Sheriff Reid commented on the charges: “He deliberately did this to receive money to which he was not entitled.
'As far as the other indictment is concerned, he clearly used the offices of a political party to wash considerable sums of money white.
“I am without reasonable doubt that Macaskill has acted in contrast to the legislation in the indictment.”
Macaskill – a judge of the Extivicum – was previously photographed alongside former Prime Minister David Cameron.
In 2012, he reportedly received an extra -court shelter that was dumped by the Scottish conservatives as a candidate for elections in Holyrood.
His removal paved the way for future leader Ruth Davidson to get into parliament.
