Wednesday, March 20, 2024

News: Covid loan misconduct uncovered in Rotherham

A Rotherham-based businessman has been found guilty of making a false application for a government scheme designed to enable businesses to access finance more quickly during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Insolvency Service has been carrying out work to target Covid loan abuse.

In January 2024, Abdullah Khan, formerly known as Imran Khan, 32, was given a ten year Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (BRO).

Whilst not a criminal offence, a BRO is a legal order from the court which extends the period of time where certain restrictions have to be followed. They are often used for people going bankrupt when the official receiver thinks they have been dishonest or are to blame for the debts.

Khan, of Norrel’s Croft, Rotherham, obtained a £50,000 loan in June 2020 for his AK Courier Services business.

However, he overstated the turnover of his business, claiming it was £203,000 and received at least £36,000 more than he was entitled to.

The application stated that his business turnover for the year ended 31 December 2019 was £203,000 but according to his tax returns Mr Khan’s business turnover for 2018/19 was £15,077 and for 2019/20 was £37,784. The average turnover for the year ended 31 December 2019 was therefore £31,975, which entitled him to a Bounce Back Loan of £7,994.

At bankruptcy in March 2022, Mr Khan had liabilities of £62,568, of which £50,000 is in respect of the loan.

Khan appeared at the County Court in Leeds in January where he was handed the BRO.

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The Bounce Back Loan Scheme was available through a range of accredited lenders and partners and provided financial support to businesses across the UK that were losing revenue, and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, or could benefit from £50,000 or less in finance.

A lender could provide a six-year term loan from £2,000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover. The maximum loan amount was £50,000. The scheme gave the lender a full (100%) government-backed guarantee against the outstanding balance of the facility (both capital and interest).

The scheme saw over 1.5 million loans approved, totalling £47bn.

So far in 2023-24, the Insolvency Service has secured 757 director disqualifications and 69 bankruptcy restrictions relating to Covid financial support scheme abuse allegations.

Robert Peck, Director of Official Receiver Services at the Insolvency Service, said: "Tackling Bounce Back Loan abuse is a key priority for the Insolvency Service and we will take action against those who applied for these loans giving misleading information during the pandemic.

"Bankruptcy Restrictions Orders and Undertakings are a tool available at our disposal to limit the activities of those who have provided false details to obtain credit or who have otherwise acted dishonestly."

Images: Insolvency Service / twitter

56 comments:

  1. The man is a despicable charlatan like all the vermin who tried to profit out of the covid suffering.

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  2. Also not very bright. All he has to do to avoid prosecution was to make a donation to the Tory Party and abuse a black woman.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds fair to me 🤣

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    2. Rishi and his Maltby toady agree

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  3. The government allowed a lot of incompetent and unscrupulous people to profit from the misery and death of covid.

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  4. Anyone else guessed the second name without reading the article?

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    Replies
    1. No, but then I'm not a racist

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    2. No-one can condone profiteering. But then no one should condone racial stereotyping either

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    3. For real racial stereotyping and horrible racist comments there are some sereal offenders on Millersmad Dukes Bar.

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    4. It's just all grist to the mill really

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  5. But yet, it is acceptable to condemn the entire political party based on one person's voice.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, because they all speak the language of corruption

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    2. Yes, if it's the Tory Party

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  6. Depends who the voice belongs to

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  7. What about the voice of the Chanclor? :"£100,000 a year is not a huge salary in Surrey"
    Can't wait for the Tories to deliver on their levelling up lies and people in Canklow are earning similar salaries

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    Replies
    1. Would 100k not buy Canklow?

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    2. 100k would certainly buy any number of Tory MPs.

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    3. Difficult to argue with that, though I suppose our true blue comrade will do his sanctimonious best.

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    4. Look, we all have a right to our own opinions and mine is that the best interests of this country are served by a Conservative Government. And before you start bleating about me being a lone voice let me tell you that my views are shared by lots of people at Sitwell golf club and even the poorer parts of Whiston where they are even talking about opening a Waitrose food bank.

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  8. Bit unfair that. The Tories do care about voters, usually on polling day.

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  9. What do you call a Tory criminal - My Lord.

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  10. Bring back Liz Truss - the country needs a laugh.

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  11. Who has an IQ of 100?
    A Cabinet Minister

    Who has an IQ of 50?
    The Prime Minister

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  12. Name me anyone more corrupt than a Tory minister.
    Sorry, I give in.

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  13. Wow that's one for every inch.

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  14. Gosh, we could potentially have a PM on the board of Millersmad forum.

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  15. I bet he doesn't.

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  16. Which poster from Millersmad are you?

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  17. I don't post. Just read the moaning

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  18. Me too. So you're not simple gru or hate everything grist.

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    Replies
    1. I don't mind gru. Grist on the other hand...

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  19. Who on earth is Grist?

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  20. Imagine Gollum with misogynistic tendencies

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    Replies
    1. That’s being polite

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    2. The misogyny is the least of his flaws

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  21. I wonder if he's our very own Mr High Rise?
    He loves lots of flaws.

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  22. I doubt Grist would like anything as modern as a high rise. Especially if it would attract any 'undesirables' to live there.

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  23. For "undesirables" read women, refugees, asylum seekers, liberals, remainers, socialists, minorities, environmentalists and then anyone demonstrating empathy with vulnerable people generally

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  24. An all round Mr Nice Guy then?

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely vile individual

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    2. Wonder if any of his fellow Millersmad posters will make him aware that he is now famous on Rothbiz?

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  25. You left out the entire LGBTQ+ community.

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    Replies
    1. Didn't want to make assumptions

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  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  27. He'd probably love it if he found out. The smugness seeps through every post he makes.

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  28. I hope somebody does let the messageboard know. It's people like him that make people not bother to sign up. Several members reflect really badly on the club and the town and he's Number 1 culprit.

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  29. I stopped posting years ago because of that guy's malignant comments.

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  30. He certainly never misses an opportunity to run down the town.

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    Replies
    1. He runs down EVERYTHING. Hateful man.

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  31. He would probably argue that his posts were harmless fun. But they are neither

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    Replies
    1. He thinks he’s a comedian as well. His quips at every opportunity are cringe worthy. He wouldn’t know funny if it smacked him in the face.

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    2. Oh, if if only it would...

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