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An Alicante-based hotelier and money launderer who used a Jersey bank account to hide fraudulent cash has been ordered to be extradited to the island after refusing to travel to Jersey for his sentencing.
In September, Martin John Hill (56) pleaded guilty to six counts of money laundering in Jersey's Royal Court, appearing via videolink from his Costa Blanca home.
He was due to be sentenced yesterday – but "positively" decided not to travel to the island, according to his advocate.
Between 2014 and 2016, Hill had made inaccurate tax declarations to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs for two Isle of Wight hotels: the Burlington Hotel, and the Shanklin Beach Hotel.
He under-declared sales for the hotels and pocketed the VAT he charged guests.
In 2019, Hill was sentenced for three charges of VAT evasion at Southwark Crown Court.
He was jailed for 30 months and banned from being a company director for seven years.
This year, he pleaded guilty to six charges of money laundering in Jersey in relation to the fraudulent funds.
Hill admitted that he had transferred the money from a UK account at Tesco Bank to an account at Santander International's Jersey branch.
In 2017, he transferred £165,500, then £10,000, and then £86,500 to Jersey.
He also admitted one count of possessing the proceeds of criminal conduct, which amounted to over £340,000 held in a Jersey bank account.
He pleaded guilty to one count of removing fraudulent money from Jersey by transferring the majority of the above figure to a Spanish bank account.
Hill sent £340,500 from his Jersey bank account to an account at Spanish bank CaixaBank in January 2018.
The final charge that he pleaded guilty to was converting criminal money.
The court heard that Hill had converted a total of £28,487 to €31,392 within his Jersey bank account during May 2017 and June 2018.
In September, Hill was bailed on condition that he must reside at his Alicante address, and was told that he would have to travel to Jersey to be sentenced on 21 November.
But Advocate Ian Jones, who defends Hill, told the Royal Court yesterday that he had not received instructions to appear or give any details on Hill's behalf – for example, if there were any reasons that prevented him from travelling to Jersey.
He said Hill had "positively decided not to appear", and that he knew the meant breaking his bail conditions.
Crown Advocate Sam Brown, prosecuting, asked for Hill to be extradited and for a warrant to be issued for his arrest.
The process of extraditing Hill had already begun, he said, and working with Spanish authorities had not presented a problem in the past.
Extraditing Hill could take between six and eight months, the court heard.
The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, said: "The defendant has voluntarily elected not to appear, without any good reason advanced.
"We revoke his bail and order his arrest.
"We understand that extradition proceedings have begun."
The Deputy Bailiff was sitting alongside Jurats Austin-Vautier and Le Heuzé.
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