Two brothers from Wolverhampton appeared in court today following a lengthy police investigation into an alleged multi-million pound money laundering and tax evasion racket.

Tony Johnson, aged 48, and Carl Johnson, 46, were jointly charged with cheating the tax-man by concealing personal income and benefits received between April 2007 and last month.

Both Johnson brothers were further accused of acquiring criminal property between January 07 and February 08. This allegedly involved £555,909 cash in the case of Carl Johnson, of Bushbury Road, Fallings Park, who attended court wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, and £337,000 in the case of Tony Johnson, of Sandy Lane, Tettenhall, who wore a tracksuit in court.

They appeared in the dock before Birmingham Magistrates this morning with six other defendants who faced a variety of money laundering and tax cheating charges. Among these was 37 year old Peter Uppal of Lawrence Avenue, Heath Town, Wolverhampton.

The others were Bruce Hartle, 57, from Morland Road, Great Barr; George White, 61, of Rashwood Farm, Rashwood, Worcestershire; Lynda Parkes, 57, of Yew Tree Farm, Telford; Alfred Namutola, 56, of Rosemary Hill Road, Sutton Coldfield and David Wilson-Gill, of Ormskirk, Lancashire, who is 37.

All of the defendants were given bail on the condition that they report once a week to a designated police station near their homes. They were sent for trial at Birmingham Crown Court, where they are due to attend a plea and direction hearing on October 5.