STORY
Junaid Dar, a 34-year-old fitness company owner from Birmingham, has received a suspended sentence after dishonestly obtaining £45,500 in Covid Bounce Back Loans and misusing a significant portion for personal expenses, including trips to a safari park, restaurant meals and credit card payments. Dar, of Stratford Road, Birmingham, made fraudulent applications to three different banks for Bounce Back Loans in 2020 for his company, JDARPT Ltd. Businesses were only entitled to one such loan, designed to provide vital financial support during the pandemic. Dar, however, submitted three applications, falsely inflating his company’s turnover in each instance. His first application in May 2020 was for £13,000, claiming a turnover of £55,000. Just two days later, he applied for £15,000, stating a turnover of £60,000. A third application in September 2020 secured £17,500, with a claimed turnover of £70,000. Insolvency Service analysis later revealed the company’s actual turnover was closer to £61,000.
While some of the funds were used for legitimate business purposes, investigators from the Insolvency Service uncovered numerous transactions for personal use. These included payments to online retailers like Amazon and Argos, spending at restaurants and meat stores, and even payments to West Midlands Safari Park. A portion of the money was also used to pay off personal credit card debt. At Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday, 10 July, Dar was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity, 180 hours of unpaid work, and pay costs of £2,400.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, condemned Dar’s actions, stating, “Junaid Dar deliberately made false representations to fraudulently receive three Bounce Back Loans when businesses were only entitled to one. Instead of using this money to support his fitness business through the pandemic as intended, he diverted significant sums for personal spending.” Mr Snasdell reiterated the Insolvency Service’s commitment to pursuing fraudsters who exploited schemes designed to help legitimate businesses during a national crisis. JDARPT Ltd, incorporated in March 2017 with Dar as its sole director, went into liquidation in July 2021. Dar has also been disqualified as a company director for 11 years, commencing in April 2022, due to his misconduct.