Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 23 December 2022.

Laszlo Szabo, 49 of London, was the sole director of Letting Base Ltd, which was incorporated in 2009 and traded as a letting agency on Holloway Road until it went into liquidation in January 2022.

In October 2020, Szabo applied for a Bounce Back Loan of £38,000 to support his business, which had formerly traded as Hungarian Lettings Ltd. The company received the loan money the following day.

Bounce Back Loans were a government scheme to help keep businesses afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic, whereby companies could apply for loans of up to 25% of their 2019 turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000.

Under the rules of the scheme, businesses could only take out one loan, although they were permitted to apply for a top-up if the original loan was less than the maximum to which they were entitled.

Yet five days after applying for the first loan, Szabo applied for another Bounce Back Loan of £50,000 for Letting Base Ltd, this time from a different bank. And 10 days after this, he applied for a £12,000 top-up to the first Bounce Back Loan, taking the total borrowed through the scheme up to £100,000.

The following day he returned to the second bank, seeking a further top-up of £50,000 to the second Bounce Back Loan. This time the application was rejected.

Letting Base Ltd went into liquidation in 2022 owing more than £243,000, including the full £100,000 of the Bounce Back Loan money, triggering an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Investigators discovered that Szabo had made the four separate applications for Bounce Back Loans and top-ups, despite signing a declaration each time confirming it was his only application, and that Letting Base Ltd was entitled to the money he was applying for.

On 21 November 2022 the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Laszlo Szabo after he did not dispute that he had misused the Bounce Back Loan scheme by claiming money to which his business was not entitled.

His ban lasts for 11 years and began on 12 December 2022. The disqualification prevents him from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Due to Laszlo Szabo’s personal circumstances, it is unlikely that repayment of the Bounce Back Loans will be made.

Nina Cassar, Deputy Head of Investigations at the Insolvency Service, said:

The Bounce Back Loan scheme was set up to support businesses in genuine need during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the terms of the scheme were widely publicised to make clear that directors were required to self-certify their eligibility for support.

Laszlo Szabo made false declarations to his company’s banks, and then entered liquidation having made no repayments towards its Bounce Back Loans, which resulted in a loss of £100,000 of public funds.

His blatant and repeat abuse of taxpayer’s money has resulted in a lengthy disqualification, which will serve to safeguard the economy from traders who exploit financial support packages designed to help UK businesses.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 28 February 2000.

An historic opportunity to look more widely at the whole question of audit, access and performance validation across central Government was signalled today by the Chief Secretary Andrew Smith as he proposed that a study be set up to recommend suitable audit and accountability arrangements for central Government in the 21st Century.

He commented:

“This is a great opportunity for Parliament and Government to work together to make sure transparency and accountability go hand in hand with the modernising Government agenda.”

In answer to a written Parliamentary Question from Jackie Lawrence MP (for Preseli Pembrokeshire) he said that the proposed review will cover the modernising Government agenda, audit/validation of performance measures, the implications of devolution, the wider European context, with particular reference to European Directives affecting audit arrangements, possible models from other countries and the relationship with other audit and regulatory bodies.

Mr Smith stressed that he was keenly aware of the importance of Parliament’s rights in these matters. He recognised the need for its interest in scrutiny, accountability and control of expenditure to be reflected in the way the review was undertaken, including the steering group for the study. The steering group will direct a project board responsible for the delivery of the study and the project board will have an independent Chair.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 3 March 2000.

“The performance of the UK economy continues to be impressive” and macroeconomic prospects “remain good” according to the latest assessment by experts from the International Monetary Fund.

At a discussion in Washington on 1 March, the IMF’s Board of Directors concluded that the Government was on course to deliver its central economic objective of high and stable levels of growth and employment. The IMF assessment says that “real growth has been strong…and both unemployment and inflation have declined steadily”.

The Directors’ assessment was that “the authorities’ policy frameworks and their track record of skilful policy management would be conducive to a continuation of sustained growth and low inflation”

Commenting on the IMF’s report, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said:

“I welcome the IMF’s report on the UK economy. It clearly supports the Government’s new framework for economic policy, and our prudent and cautious approach to managing the public finances, and the efforts we are making to promote enterprise and fairness in this country.”

The UK has been championing transparency and openness in the IMF’s scrutiny of countries’ economic policies and performance. This transparency is a key element in avoiding future international crises. Today’s publication marks a further step forward by the UK. We are publishing for the first time the IMF’s report on the UK in full, along with the record of the IMF Board discussion of the report, and the UK’s statement in response to the report. The Chancellor welcomed these new publications, saying;

“The publication of the IMF’s report on the UK economy clearly demonstrates our commitment to open up the IMF’s scrutiny process. Today marks an important step forward by the UK in economic policy making, by making available clear independent information on policy that is an essential part of the new international financial architecture.”

Other points the IMF Directors have made include:

• praise for the “effectiveness of the inflation targeting framework in the United Kingdom”, and in particular “the forward-looking, transparent and pre-emptive approach.” They added that “the transparency of the UK monetary framework is already among the highest internationally”.
• a welcome for “the efficiency gains and improved public resource allocation arising from the strengthened fiscal framework”.
• They “praised the authorities for focussing long term policies toward achieving greater equity and strengthening productivity.”
• praise for the Government’s policies to move people off welfare and into work, and to make work pay. They note the Government’s welfare and labour market reforms “were aimed at strengthening incentives to work, particularly among jobless households.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 6 March 2000.

Proposals to revolutionise Government services for small business through use of the Internet were set out today by the Chancellor Gordon Brown.

The Chancellor was in Sunderland talking to local business people on the second leg of his Pre-Budget tour. He was accompanied by David Irwin, Head of the Small Business Service, in his first day in post and Lord Trotman, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of the Ford Motor Company, who has been reviewing the small business measures already introduced.

The Chancellor said that he was determined that:

“Britain will lead in the next stage of the Internet revolution. Our target is that within three years we want to become the world’s best environment for electronic commerce.”

As a pledge to delivering these aims the Chancellor has already allocated £10 million to the Small Business Service from the Invest to Save Budget to develop a user-friendly electronic gateway between business and government.

To further help small business, the Chancellor said he was considering two bids for funds from the Capital Modernisation Fund. These projects are:

• for the Small Business Service to provide information and advice via the Internet and through a call centre. It will create a cutting edge service to business through link-ups the speed of service; and
• for the Inland Revenue/Customs & Excise to create the ‘e-tax adviser.’ An electronic gateway would allow businesses to register as a company with Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and register for VAT. It will be easier for business to find and follow regulations, provide a two-way service so business can access data as well as submitting forms and the service will be available anytime and anywhere.

The Treasury is now working with these Departments on the details of their bids to ensure the most effective service will be provided to small businesses.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 March 2000.

New measures to help people move from the hidden economy into legitimate work – and tough new powers to detect and punish offenders who refuse to do so – are the main recommendations of Lord Grabiner QC’s report on the informal economy published today.

The report suggests that every year billions of pounds have been lost to the informal economy. The report estimates that 120,000 are working while ‘signing on’ at a cost of nearly half a billion pounds to the taxpayer.

Chancellor Gordon Brown welcomed the report saying:

“Lord Grabiner’s report suggests that for years billions of pounds have been lost to the informal economy every year, leaving honest, hard working taxpayers, who play by the rules, footing the bill for those who either don’t pay the taxes they owe or claim benefit while they are working.

“His clear and comprehensive strategy, based on opportunities tied to new obligations is designed to tackle the informal economy with a package of new rights and new responsibilities. It proposes incentives to encourage people into legitimate work – and tough new penalties for those who fail to do so and continue to defraud the rest of us.

“The government is delivering more opportunities than ever before to work. Vacancies are at record levels and step by step we are removing the barriers to employment. But just as there are more opportunities, so too we believe new obligations.

“Defrauding the benefit system, means defrauding the poor and preventing us getting the resources to those in need. We would be failing in our obligation to those who need the benefits system if we allowed people to defraud it.

“I welcome Lord Grabiner’s report and in the Budget will announce in detail how we will implement his recommendations.”

The report, “The Informal Economy”, proposes new measures to tackle the hidden economy whilst at the same time making clear that some people get trapped in the informal economy because they are not aware of the legitimate opportunities that are available.

Lord Grabiner concludes that the Government should introduce new ways to tackle for those who persist in the hidden economy: including:

• new legislation to introduce a new statutory offence of fraudulently evading income tax, to be tried in the magistrates’ court;
• subjecting people, suspected of working while signing on, to additional requirements by requiring them to sign on more frequently and at unpredictable times;
• as in the USA, a ‘two strikes and you are out’ approach – for the first time, removing people’s right to claim benefit for a specified time if they have been convicted twice; and
• giving investigators the power to trace suspects by making routine ‘reverse searches’ of the telephone directory.

Among his other 17 recommendations, Lord Grabiner proposes incentives to encourage people into legitimate work including recommendations to:

•  set up an anonymous, confidential telephone line to advise those in the hidden economy about how they can put their affairs in order, and how the tax and benefit rules apply to them;
• build on the help that is given to people who start out in self-employment and extend recent changes to make it easier for people claiming means-tested benefits to leave benefit and take up legitimate jobs; and
• launch a new advertising drive to publicise the incentives available for people to join the legitimate economy, including the Working Families Tax Credit, and the punishment they will face if they stay in the informal economy.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 8 March 2000.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms today opened Westminster’s first annual ethnic minority business exhibition.

Mr Timms was visiting the Exhibition in London as part of pre-budget tour being carried out by Gordon Brown and his Treasury Ministers to take advice on the shape of the Government’s employment and enterprise initiatives for the years to come.

Speaking at the Exhibition Mr Timms said:

“We want to see not only the work ethic reinvigorated in every community of Britain but a dynamic business culture which encourages enterprise open to all. That is the message we want to spread – enterprise expanded to people and places too often forgotten in the past.

“We know that more than one third of all unemployed people in London come from ethnic minorities. But we also know ethnic minority businesses already play a leading role in everyday business life across the country. Businesses from the ethnic minority communities contribute well over £8 billion each and every year to the British economy.

“I have seen in other parts of London and across the country during my regional tours the contribution ethnic minority businesses are making. We know, for example, that the rate of business start-ups per head is higher in the ethnic minority communities than in the wider community. With more people in work today then ever before we now have a great opportunity to make sure the benefits of enterprise and rising prosperity and spread wider. That’s why this business exhibition is so important for Westminster.”