Pizza Hut VAT fraudsters jailed for 18 months each Two businessmen who ran Pizza Hut takeaways have each been sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to pay almost £600,000 in VAT. Mukesh Patel, 55, from Southampton, and Harishchandra Desai, 61, from Blackfield, Hampshire, operated four outlets in Southampton, Poole and Bournemouth from October 2002 to September 2011. HM Revenue & Customs said their four-year VAT fraud was driven by "greed and desire."