STORY
A Sussex café owner has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining £150,000 in COVID-19 support loans for dormant companies. Mehmet Akyuz, 36, of Conway Street, Brighton and Hove, secured three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020 for two businesses: Green and Hove Limited, trading as Organic Earth Café, and Leathers Wear Limited. Investigations revealed that both companies were not trading at the time of the applications and had filed dormant accounts in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Akyuz falsely claimed substantial turnovers for both companies to obtain the loans. Between September 2020 and January 2021, over £36,000 from one loan was transferred directly to him, with the remainder disbursed in miscellaneous payments.
At Hove Crown Court on Monday, Akyuz received a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was also disqualified from serving as a company director for five years and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, stated:
“Mehmet Akyuz’s actions in fraudulently applying for three Bounce Back Loans he was not entitled to were completely unacceptable. This was taxpayers’ money designed to support small businesses through the pandemic and should not have been exploited in such a cynical manner.”