Trump security aid guilty of VAT scam
Kevin McKay, 46, from Aberdeen will be sentenced at a later date
Last updated 20th Feb 2017
The owner of a company that provided security for Donald Trump's golf business was behind bars today following a ÂŁ400,000 VAT scam.
Kevin McKay, 46, from Aberdeen was caught swindling the tax man after HMRC officials examined invoices sent to businesses he had provided work for in the past.
Records showed that he had charged companies VAT and that large sums of money were being transferred from his business bank to his own personal account.
The money gradually accumulated in his savings account before just over ÂŁ100,000 was transferred to a Romanian bank in September 2010.
McKay was charged after HMRC officials were called in to investigate but the International Personal Protection Services owner denied the allegations - and blamed his ex-wife for the crime.
It was suggested during his trial that Susan McKay had been withdrawing "wads of cash" and living the high life enjoying foreign holidays abroad without her husband.
Yesterday a jury of nine men and six women found McKay guilty of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT worth 419, 799 pounds between August 2008 and May 2014.
He was also found guilty by a majority verdict following a six day trial of removing criminal property from Scotland by transferring 100, 473.98 pounds into a Romanian bank account.
Sheriff Alison Stirling remanded McKay telling him that it was "virtually inevitable" that he would be given a custodial sentence when he returned to court for sentence.
During the trial the court heard that his firm had provided security for Donald Trump's Menie Estate golf course on the outskirts of Aberdeen between 2008 and 2009.
Giving evidence, HMRC officer Ross Brown said invoices provided to the links golf course in Aberdeenshire were examined by his colleagues along with records from other businesses he supplied work to.
The court heard security guards provided mobile patrols at Menie Estate with a total of 136 visits listed on an invoice shown to the jury.
Other invoices showed security guards employed by IPPS had also worked at other businesses, including Miller Construction, Rotech Ltd and Robert Gordon's University.
The court heard Mrs McKay was initially charged with an offence relating to the reckless submission of VAT returns but the case against her was later dropped.
Fiscal depute Anne Macdonald asked the HMRC officer how she appeared when she was visited at her home by HMRC officers.
Mr Brown said: "She came across as being a bit shocked.
"As far as she was concerned she was asked to sign a couple of documents for Kevin while he was serving a period of sequestration and genuinely appeared shocked at the level of figures we were talking about."
The tax officer said it was his belief that the charge against Mrs McKay was dropped because his colleagues didn't suspect that she had a part to play in the events.
The court also heard evidence from McKay's ex-wife that he had put the business in her name while he served a period of sequestration but that she wasn't running it.
Defence lawyer John McLeod asked her about VAT return forms that appeared to bear her signature.
But she told the court that it was not her signature.
Mr McLeod went on to suggest she had signed forms and then sent her husband "as a postie" to take them to the accountant. But she denied this.
He said: "You were on to a good thing by that time. You were withdrawing wads of cash, living the high life."
She replied: "If I was living the high life I would not be in a council house, I would be in a better house than I am in now."
Sheriff Stirling deferred sentence for background reports until next month.