STORY
A Wolverhampton company director has been given a suspended prison sentence after fraudulently claiming £30,000 through the Covid Bounce Back Loan scheme.
Sohail Cheema, of Richmond Road, Wolverhampton, falsely claimed that his company had a turnover of £60,000 when applying for two separate £15,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020. Businesses were only entitled to one loan under the scheme, which was designed to support genuine companies during the pandemic.
The Insolvency Service said Cheema’s company, Sohail Cheema Limited, had been set up to allow him to gain agency employment as a self-employed bus driver and was not actually trading. None of the money obtained was used for the economic benefit of the business, as required by the scheme.
Cheema transferred the full proceeds of both loans out of his business accounts on the same day they were received. The money was moved to his personal accounts and to his wife’s account, before later forming part of a £90,000 payment to a third party in August 2021.
He pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering following an investigation by the Insolvency Service. At Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday 29 June, Cheema was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.
He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 10 years, ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and required to carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activity.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said Cheema had deliberately made two fraudulent applications despite knowing he was not entitled to the money. He said Bounce Back Loans had been a lifeline for genuine businesses during the pandemic and warned that the Insolvency Service would continue to pursue those who exploited the scheme.
Sohail Cheema Limited went into liquidation in May 2021. The Insolvency Service said it is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained money under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.