Tag: Insolvency Service

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 19 June 2026.

• Steven Brookes fraudulently claimed six Covid business loans worth £300,000 by making applications in his wife’s name and inflating turnover figures 
• Brookes spent significant sums on a Disneyland trip, private school fees, an Audi, personalised number plates and a family holiday to Tenerife 
• The 40-year-old had been banned as a company director since 2010 and used his wife’s name on the applications to conceal his involvement throughout the entire period of the fraud 

A banned company director who spent £300,000 of Covid support on family holidays, private school fees, and other personal spending has been jailed. 

Steven Brookes used funds from six fraudulently obtained Bounce Back Loans to pay for a trip to Disneyland, a holiday rental in Tenerife, and an Audi with personalised number plates for his wife. 

The 40-year-old also paid £7,000 in fees for his daughter to attend an independent day and boarding school in Devon. 

Bounce Back Loans were meant to provide economic benefit to his five businesses during the pandemic, but Brookes treated them as a personal fund, spending sums at florists, lingerie retailers and on paint to decorate his rental property. 

Multiple transfers were also made into the joint expenses account Brookes held with his wife. 

Brookes applied for the loans in his wife’s name, without her knowledge, and opened company bank accounts in her name to receive the funds.  

He also inflated or fabricated the turnover figures used to support the applications and made a second loan application for the same company when he was only entitled to one. 

All of the applications were made while Brookes was disqualified as a company director, using his wife’s identity to conceal his involvement. 

Brookes, of Victoria Road, Bude, Cornwall, was jailed for three years and banned as a director for 10 years when he appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday 18 June, with the judge describing his actions as ‘calculated and greedy’. 

He had pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud and acting as a director while disqualified at the same court last November. 

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 

Steven Brookes cynically hid behind his wife’s identity to steal £300,000 in Covid support funds. 

Bounce Back Loans were not a personal bank account for company directors to use on paying for holidays, school fees and other luxury items. Brookes broke almost every rule going. He submitted false turnover figures, secured two loans when companies were only allowed one, and criminally misused the funds. 

He did all this while ignoring a director ban which had been in place for a decade at the time of his fraudulent actions. 

The Insolvency Service has relentlessly pursued Covid fraudsters since the pandemic. We are equally determined to enforce director bans – and hold those who wilfully break them to account.

Brookes made six Bounce Back Loan applications across five companies between May and October 2020. In each case, he made the application in his wife’s name without her knowledge, having been disqualified as a company director for 11 years in April 2010 following a conviction for stealing mobile phones. 

His first application was for a £50,000 loan for Blind Pig Media Limited. Brookes declared the company’s turnover as £218,865 to obtain the maximum amount when its actual turnover was £119,215. 

Funds from the loan were used for personal spending, including the Disneyland trip and school fees. 

Just weeks later, Brookes applied for a second £50,000 loan for the same company. Businesses were only entitled to one Bounce Back Loan each. He falsely declared this was his first application. 

Money from this loan was spent at a florist, at lingerie retailer Boux Avenue, and transferred into the couple’s joint expenses account. 

Brookes’ third fraudulent application in September 2020 was for another £50,000 loan, this time for BPG Management Limited. 

In the application, Brookes declared a turnover of £450,000. The company had never traded and had no accounts. 

The full £50,000 was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited, where it was used for personal spending including a £7,800 Audi bought for his wife, personalised number plates costing over £4,700, £1,200 spent on paint to decorate his rental property, and a further £1,000 transferred to the couple’s joint expenses account. 

Later that month, Brookes secured a £50,000 loan for Brookes Consultancy Limited, declaring a turnover of £350,000. Again, the company had never traded and had no accounts. The full loan was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited. 

Brookes made a fifth application for The Pig Box Limited, declaring a turnover of £750,000 despite the company again never having traded.  

The full £50,000 was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited and used for personal spending, including £640 at luxury retailer Jo Malone and £1,000 paid to his wife’s business. 

Brookes’ final fraudulent application came in October 2020. He obtained a £50,000 loan for The Blind Pig Group Limited, this time declaring a turnover of £800,000.  

In a repeat of some of his previous applications, the company had never traded and the full loan amount was transferred to Blind Pig Media Limited. 

Money was again used for personal spending, including £5,000 paid to a Tenerife holiday rental company and £3,439 on a home energy bill. 

Only £7,494 has been repaid of the £300,000 Brookes stole from the scheme. 

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. 

Further information

• Steven Brookes is of Victoria Road, Bude, Cornwall. His date of birth is 30 August 1985 

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 12 June 2026.

Two men sentenced in insolvency fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

• Tariq Sarwar fraudulently transferred more than £3 million from the sale of a Salford commercial property
• Christopher Francis laundered the money through a network of accounts and companies, returning funds to Sarwar with creditors losing out
• Both men have been sentenced following investigations by the Insolvency Service

Two men who carried out a £3 million insolvency fraud and money laundering scheme have been sentenced.

Disqualified director Tariq Sarwar, 59, knew his company was in financial difficulty and likely to be wound-up when he sold commercial property in Salford – his company’s only substantial asset – for more than £5 million.

Sarwar fraudulently transferred more than £3 million from the proceeds of that sale without paying off his company’s debts to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and other creditors.

The money went to a food and drinks company controlled by Christopher Francis, 40, who laundered the funds through a network of accounts and other companies back to Sarwar.

While creditors were left owed more than £500,000, Sarwar and his family enjoyed a lavish lifestyle in the Cheshire countryside, including a six-bedroom home filled with designer products from Versace and Louis Vuitton.

His son even appeared on reality television programme Rich Kids Go Skint, filmed in the summer of 2019, where he admitted he had never been on a bus before and was chauffeured around in a Rolls-Royce.

Sarwar, of Gore Lane, Alderley Edge, admitted charges of fraudulently removing assets in anticipation of winding-up and acting as a company director while disqualified in April this year.

He was jailed for four years and banned as a company director for 10 years when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court on Friday 12 June.

Francis, of Letchworth Road, Luton, pleaded guilty in the middle of his trial last month to one count of money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

He was sentenced to two years and one month in prison, suspended for two years, at the same hearing.

Francis was also ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

The Insolvency Service has already started investigations to confiscate the funds.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Tariq Sarwar and Christopher Francis went to considerable lengths to hide their criminal actions, moving millions of pounds through a web of companies to cover their tracks.

Property companies do not hand more than £3 million to an unconnected food and drinks business out of generosity. This was fraud, plain and simple.

The Insolvency Service will continue to pursue confiscation proceedings to ensure Sarwar and Francis do not get to keep what was never rightfully theirs.

Daniel Hart, Senior Criminal Lawyer at the Insolvency Service, said:

Tariq Sarwar diverted millions of pounds beyond the reach of creditors to maintain a luxury lifestyle, despite being disqualified as a company director.

Together with Christopher Francis, he sought to disguise the proceeds through a network of companies to evade detection. That attempt failed. The Insolvency Service traced the fraud and brought both men to justice.

The Insolvency Service is committed to targeting those who seek to hide criminality behind corporate structures and will take robust action against those who abuse the insolvency regime or engage in corporate abuse. Offenders can expect to be prosecuted and to face serious consequences.

Sarwar was disqualified as a company director for 11 years in November 2013. At the time, his company owed at least £1.6 million to creditors yet he arranged for more than a quarter of a million pounds to be paid to his personal benefit from an insurance claim.

The company went into administration less than eight weeks after this payment.

Sarwar’s disqualification prevented him by law from forming, managing or promoting a company without the permission of the court, which he did not have.

Despite this, he acted as director of A Property Management Limited between November 2014 and July 2018, and of Willowloch Limited for almost 10 years from April 2015 until his disqualification ended in November 2024.

In both instances, although other individuals were formally appointed as directors, Sarwar retained actual control of the companies.

A Property Management Limited’s trading activities were purchasing Langley Mill Business Park on Langley Road in Salford, renovating it and letting individual units to other businesses.

Willowloch Limited’s primary trading activity was the purchase and conversion of the former Stockport Police Station on Lee Street into flats.

The two companies were financially intertwined. Money was moved between them without clear justification, and funds from A Property Management Limited were used to service a loan that benefited Willowloch Limited.

HMRC applied to have A Property Management Limited wound-up in March 2018 after the company failed to pay £130,000 in tax.

Sarwar therefore knew that there was a realistic prospect his company would be shut down.

Just three months later, Langley Mill Business Park was sold for just under £5.1 million.

After mortgages and legal fees were paid off, Sarwar instructed A Property Management Limited’s solicitors to transfer the remaining amount to KYCA Trading Limited, a company directed by Francis.

Almost £3.1 million was moved within nine days of the sale.

By early July 2018, the entire sum had been paid into accounts belonging to six other companies.

Insolvency Service investigations traced £645,000 which had been subsequently transferred to a company whose directors were members of Sarwar’s immediate family.

A further £748,980 passed through a series of other companies before ultimately finding its way back to Sarwar’s own family business and into his personal business account.

When the Insolvency Service contacted Sarwar about his role in the sale of Langley Mill Business Park, he denied any involvement.

Francis claimed that more than £700,000 had been transferred as a deposit on five penthouses.

This was a transaction he could not name, document, or credibly explain.

Francis was disqualified as a company director for six years in March 2021 after failing to provide adequate accounting records for KYCA Trading Limited.

He claimed his car, containing his laptop and all business records, had been stolen and burnt out overnight.

HMRC were later repaid in full and other creditors eventually received a limited return on what they were owed.

Further information

• Tariq Sarwar is of Gore Lane, Alderley Edge, Cheshire. His date of birth is 31 August 1966
• Christopher Francis is of Letchworth Road, Luton. His date of birth is 24 September 1985

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 2 June 2026.

• Leanne Richardson was the director of ESL Consultancy Services Ltd, which generated almost 38,000 spam text complaints
• ESL Consultancy Services Ltd was fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) but went into liquidation without paying – the firm had hired another company to send the messages to up to 546,000 numbers a day
• Richardson, of Horsham in West Sussex, has been banned as a company director for six years

The boss of a West Sussex firm which triggered almost 38,000 complaints for unlawful nuisance texts has been banned as a company director.

Leanne Richardson was the director of ESL Consultancy Services Ltd, which hired another company to send the spam texts to customers without their consent.

The 44-year-old’s company promoted high-interest rate loans through the messages, which its affiliate was able to send to 546,000 phone numbers every single day.

Richardson, of The Boulevard, Horsham, has now been disqualified as a company director for six years.

ESL Consultancy Services Ltd was fined £200,000 by the ICO in December 2024 but went into liquidation the following May without having paid any of the fine.

The ICO also handed out enforcement notices to Taipan Trading Ltd and its sole director Daniel Bentley, who were the senders of the texts.

ICO investigations revealed Bentley and his company sent more than 2.5 million unsolicited direct marketing text messages in 2022 and 2023.

Simon Gillett, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Illegal spam texts are not just a nuisance. They can cause severe anxiety and distress to vulnerable people.

Leanne Richardson and her company may not have actually sent the texts but there is no doubt they were the driving force behind the operation.

Richardson has demonstrated she is unfit to be a company director and we will continue to work with partners to take action against those who prey on those most at risk from this kind of exploitation.

Andy Curry, Head of Investigations at the ICO, said:

We welcome today’s disqualification. Leanne Richardson was director of a company that knew the law but deliberately chose to ignore it for financial gain.

As in this case, complainants tell us about the distress that unlawful marketing messages can cause and we will continue to take action against the people and organisations who are responsible for sending them.

Our Financial Investigation Unit continues to work closely with the Insolvency Service to bring companies and directors to account. By disrupting the non-compliant activities of directors such as Leanne Richardson, we can help ensure they can’t easily resurface under a different name and continue to cause further harm to people.

The spam messages were sent under orders from Richardson and ESL Consultancy Services Ltd between September 2022 and December 2023.

A total of 37,961 complaints were made to the 7726 SPAM reporting service, with a further 16 directly to the ICO.

ESL Consultancy Services Ltd also took steps to try and conceal the identity of the sender of the messages by using unregistered SIM cards.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Richardson, and her ban started on Tuesday 2 June. 

The undertaking prevents her from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Further information

• Leanne Richardson is of The Boulevard, Horsham. Her date of birth is 30 March 1982

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 2 June 2026.

• Ishfaq Hussain secretly moved £250,000 of development land out of a failing company leaving creditors with nothing
• Hussain told investigators the land had gone to a stranger when it had gone to the mother of his eight children
• He signed documents under a false name, denied it was him, and was caught on CCTV

A Bradford housebuilder who transferred development land worth £250,000 out of his failing construction company to a firm controlled by his partner has been sentenced.

Ishfaq Hussain signed over the two pieces of land from Reeson Homes Ltd, a company where he was sole director, to Paddington Homes Ltd, as creditors closed in and the company faced insolvency.

Paddington Homes Ltd was incorporated on the same day Hussain instructed solicitors to transfer the land, with his partner appointed as its sole director.

No money changed hands despite transfer documents falsely recording a payment of £250,250.

The 54-year-old then claimed the land had been sold to an unconnected third party and that payment had been made.

Hussain, of Sunbridge Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial earlier this year to an offence of fraudulently transferring company property under the Insolvency Act 1986.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Monday 1 June.

Hussain was also disqualified as a company director for four years and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Ishfaq Hussain deliberately moved his company’s most valuable asset into the hands of a connected company at the very moment his creditors were closing in. This was not a mistake or a misunderstanding but a calculated attempt to ensure that people owed money would never be paid.

Hussain repeatedly lied to investigators, denied any personal connection to his partner’s company, and even used false names to cover his tracks.

Directors who think they can defraud their creditors and then lie their way out of it should be in no doubt that we have the tools and the determination to hold them to account.

Reeson Homes Ltd was set up in Bradford by Hussain in November 2014.

In 2015 and 2016, the company purchased two adjoining pieces of land on the south side of Wilsden Road, Allerton, Bradford, known as Sandy Lane, with the intention of developing them for housing.

Hussain engaged a number of contractors to carry out development work, running up significant debts that Reeson Homes Ltd did not pay.

By early 2017, the company had no income and its debts to creditors exceeded £183,000. The Sandy Lane land was its only significant asset.

Hussain instructed solicitors to transfer the Sandy Lane land out of Reeson Homes Ltd on the same day that Paddington Homes Ltd was incorporated in February 2017.

Paddington Homes Ltd was run by Hussain’s partner who he later repeatedly told investigators was merely a business acquaintance he owed money to.

The two pieces of land were transferred to Paddington Homes Ltd by deed the following month, with paperwork recording a sale price of £250,000. No money was ever paid.

A winding-up petition was issued against Reeson Homes Ltd by a company owed more than £40,000 for work carried out on the Sandy Lane site. Reeson Homes Ltd was wound-up by the court in June of that year.

In the months that followed, Hussain made repeated false statements about the transfer to insolvency practitioners, creditors and official investigators.

At a creditors’ meeting, he described the land as having been sold to an “unconnected party”.

He told the Official Receiver – a court-appointed official who investigates how and why companies fail – he had no personal connection to Paddington Homes Ltd.

Hussain also signed a personal guarantee for work carried out on the Sandy Lane site under the false name “Adam Khan”, using a contact number registered to him.

When CCTV footage from the day the guarantee was signed was later obtained, it showed Hussain as the person who had signed it. He nevertheless denied having signed any personal guarantee and claimed “Adam” was a childhood nickname.

The land was subsequently recovered through civil proceedings brought by the liquidator at Bradford County Court in 2019.

Further information

• Ishfaq Hussain is of Sunbridge Road, Bradford. His date of birth is 14 January 1972

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 20 May 2026.

Fraudster abused Covid support schemes and insolvency rules.

• Lucien Ekamba-Elombe set up a phoenix company while bankrupt after failing to pay his council tax and hid his involvement behind an unwitting front man
• He fraudulently claimed a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan he had no right to and transferred thousands to his own account
• Ekamba-Elombe also bought two properties using more than £190,000 of company money while banned as a director by a court

A Newcastle recruitment consultant has been sentenced for a string of offences including Covid fraud, flouting director disqualifications and running a phoenix company while bankrupt.

Lucien Ekamba-Elombe set up a recruitment firm under a similar name to his previous failed company while legally banned from doing so after failing to pay council tax.

He secretly ran it through an unwitting front man to hide his involvement.

The 50-year-old then fraudulently claimed a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan he had no right to apply for, transferring more than £12,000 to his own account.

He also carried on running the company even after being banned as a director by a court, helping himself to more than £190,000 of company money to buy two properties.

Ekamba-Elombe, of Union Hall Road, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Wednesday 20 May.

He was also disqualified as a company director for seven years and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.

Ekamba-Elombe had previously pleaded guilty to the offences in October last year. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at court in February and he was apprehended in April.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Lucien Ekamba-Elombe’s criminal actions were calculated, persistent and wide-ranging. This was a prolonged and deliberate course of offending that touched almost every aspect of insolvency law.

Ekamba-Elombe abused Covid support funds, ran a phoenix company while bankrupt and carried on as if a director ban simply did not apply to him. He even used company money to buy properties for himself.

Rooting out Covid fraudsters, cracking down on abusive phoenix companies and holding disqualified directors to account are all central to the Insolvency Service’s work – protecting honest businesses, creditors and the public from criminals such as Ekamba-Elombe who think the rules do not apply to them.

Ekamba-Elombe was the director of United Recruitment and Employment Limited, which went into liquidation in January 2019. He was made bankrupt in July that year following non-payment of council tax.

It is a criminal offence to act as a company director while bankrupt. However, Ekamba-Elombe ignored his bankruptcy and set up Unify Group Limited in September 2019.

Unify Group Limited continued trading under a similar name to its insolvent predecessor, breaching the Insolvency Act 1986, which bans directors from reusing a company name to evade creditors after insolvency.

Ekamba-Elombe concealed his involvement in the new company by appointing a nominee director who had no knowledge of the appointment.

In December 2020, Ekamba-Elombe fraudulently obtained a £30,000 Bounce Back Loan for Unify Group Limited.

By the end of the year, he had transferred more than £12,000 to his personal account across 16 transactions, with a further £8,000 paid to a company or individual in France with no known links to Unify Group Limited.

Ekamba-Elombe was disqualified as a company director for five years in January 2022 following investigations into this misconduct at United Recruitment and Employment Limited.

The disqualification prevented him from managing a company until 2027.

However, he again ignored the restrictions placed on him, continuing to act as director of Unify Group Limited, even using company funds to finance the purchase of two properties.

Insolvency Service investigations revealed that Ekamba-Elombe transferred more than £190,000 from the company to his personal account between June and October 2022.

Funds were then transferred to the solicitors who conducted the conveyancing.

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Further information

• Lucien Ekamba-Elombe is of Union Hall Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. His date of birth is 12 May 1976

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 19 May 2026.

South London director disqualified for Bounce Back Loan abuse.

• Ademilson Nascimento secured £46,500 in Bounce Back Loan funds for a construction company which never traded
• His actions were described by the judge as “bluntly appalling”, “dishonest”, and “deliberate”
• Nascimento has been banned as a company director for 15 years, the maximum period possible

A South London man who secured Covid support funds for a construction firm which never traded has been disqualified as a company director for the maximum period of 15 years.

Ademilson Nascimento obtained a £46,500 Bounce Back Loan in July 2020 by falsely claiming that his Buildan Construction Ltd company had a turnover of £192,000.

The 53-year-old also failed to use the money for the economic benefit of his business as required under the terms of the scheme, because the company never traded.

Indeed, the company filed dormant accounts for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Nascimento, of Ridgemount Close, was disqualified as a company director for 15 years at a hearing of the High Court in London on Tuesday 28 April.

His ban started on Tuesday 19 May.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £5,667.

Simon Gillett, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Ademilson Nascimento’s conduct was described by the judge as ‘bluntly appalling’ and it’s clear to see why.

His selfish actions caused real harm to the public purse and showed utter contempt for a scheme designed to support genuine businesses during the pandemic.

The Insolvency Service will not tolerate those who abuse their position as a company director, as this lengthy disqualification demonstrates.

Nascimento’s disqualification runs through until May 2041 and prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Buildan Construction Ltd went into liquidation in April 2023 and was dissolved in December 2025.

Further information

• Ademilson Nascimento is of Ridgemount Close, London. His date of birth is 9 July 1972

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 18 May 2026.

• Philip Walker used the Atherton scheme to walk away from more than half a million pounds of debt owed by his cleaning company
• He made net payments of almost £200,000 from his insolvent business into a new company he controlled, knowing Solus Facilities Limited could not pay its creditors
• Walker has been disqualified as a company director for seven years following Insolvency Service investigations into users of the scheme

A cleaning boss has been banned as a company director after transferring almost £200,000 out of his insolvent business into his new company.

Leicestershire-based Philip Walker was the director of Solus Facilities Limited, a company providing cleaning services for restaurants.

However, by April 2023, the company was in financial difficulty, and unable to pay its debts.

Instead of following standard insolvency procedures, the 44-year-old used the Atherton scheme to avoid paying his debts, leaving creditors more than half a million pounds out of pocket.

Atherton was advertised as a corporate rescue service where directors of distressed companies were encouraged to sell their businesses as an “alternative” to entering formal insolvency proceedings such as liquidation.

Walker paid Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd £16,500 in three instalments across the summer of 2023 for it to purchase Solus Facilities Limited’s liabilities.

During this period, Walker also set up a new phoenix company, Carbon White Group Ltd, of which he was director.

Solus Facilities Limited did not trade after Walker resigned as director and was replaced by Karen Mortimer, one of Atherton’s main enablers, in December 2023.

Despite this, Walker accessed the company’s account, making net payments of £198,100 to Carbon White Group Ltd between November 2023 and January 2024 when he knew that Solus Facilities Limited was insolvent.

Solus Facilities Limited went into liquidation in September 2024 owing creditors £513,090.

Walker, of Wykes Close, Quorn, has been disqualified as a company director for seven years.

Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at the Insolvency Service, said:

Philip Walker made payments to his new company when he knew his former business had no reasonable prospect of avoiding liquidation, leaving creditors seriously out of pocket.

Indeed, many of these transfers were made when Walker had resigned as a director of Solus Facilities Limited yet was still accessing the company’s bank account.

These actions are deeply damaging to creditors and are completely unacceptable. Those who deliberately use companies repeatedly to avoid debts – known as abusive phoenixism – should be in no doubt that we will pursue them using all the enforcement tools at our disposal.

Mortimer, 67, was disqualified as a company director for seven years having put the creditors of 138 companies at risk of financial loss after taking control of businesses referred to her by Atherton Corporate UK (Ltd) and Atherton Corporate Rescue Limited.

Her sister Joanna Seawright, 55, also received a seven-year ban for her role in the Atherton scheme.

Atherton enabler Neville Taylor, 59, was disqualified as a company director for nine years in January 2025.

Suzanne Harley-Davies, 68, who failed to ensure her Atherton-linked companies operated for legitimate corporate purposes, was banned for four years in May this year.

Atherton Corporate (UK) Ltd and Atherton Corporate Rescue Limited, along with five companies which enabled the running of the scheme, were wound-up in the public interest in the summer of 2024.

Four more companies which formed part of the Atherton scheme – Atherton Corporate Partners LLP, Jones & Harlington Ltd, TYA GRP Ltd and TYA Two GRP Ltd – went into compulsory liquidation in early 2026 after Insolvency Service investigations.

Criminal investigations into the Atherton scheme remain ongoing. Six search warrants have been executed across the UK in the last three months with the support of the police.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Walker, and his ban started on Friday 15 May.

It prevents him from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Further information

• Philip Walker is of Wykes Close, Quorn, Leicestershire. His date of birth is 10 November 1981
• Solus Facilities Limited (company number 09796369)

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 13 May 2026.

Director made false declarations on two separate government-backed loan applications.

• Harjinder Singh legitimately secured a £20,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020 before fraudulently obtaining a second £30,000 loan the following month
• He failed to declare the fraudulent second loan when applying for a £95,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan later that year
• Singh was handed a suspended sentence and director disqualification after Insolvency Service investigations into his fraudulent actions

A West Midlands property developer and lettings agent has been sentenced after fraudulently obtaining two separate Covid support loans designed to help businesses through the pandemic.

Harjinder Singh had already claimed a legitimate £20,000 Bounce Back Loan for HP Property (International) Ltd in May 2020 when he went back for more the following month.

The 44-year-old lied to a second bank, falsely declaring it was his first application, and secured a £30,000 Bounce Back Loan he was not entitled to.

He then failed to declare the £30,000 loan when he applied for a £95,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan later that year.

Singh, of Stonnall Road, Aldridge, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday 12 May.

He was also disqualified as a company director for seven years, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Harjinder Singh exploited Covid support schemes that were created in good faith to help businesses survive one of the most difficult periods in recent memory.

He made deliberate false declarations across two separate applications to keep money he had no right to.

The Insolvency Service remains committed to ensuring that Covid fraudsters face the consequences of their actions.

HP Property (International) Ltd was set up in January 2016 and traded as a residential property developer and letting agent.

In an interview with the Insolvency Service, Singh acknowledged the application for a £30,000 Bounce Back Loan broke the rules of the scheme, admitting he had not read the terms and conditions and saying “we just clicked it”.

Singh’s application for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan – a separate government-backed scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses safeguard against lost revenues and disrupted cashflow during the pandemic – was made in October 2020.

Under the scheme’s rules, any outstanding Bounce Back Loan had to be repaid using the new funding, meaning Singh was legally required to disclose it.

He disclosed the first £20,000 Bounce Back Loan which was duly repaid as the scheme required, but failed to declare the fraudulent £30,000, allowing him to keep the money.

HP Property (International) Ltd went into compulsory liquidation in November 2021 after the lender of the business interruption loan went to court to recover the money it was owed.

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Further information

• Harjinder Singh is of Stonnall Road, Aldridge, West Midlands. His date of birth is 4 January 1982
• HP Property (International) Ltd (company number 09943518)

The press release issued by the Insolvency Service on 11 December 2025.

• Derby-based Temidola Ojelabi illegally obtained £80,000 in Covid support by making two separate Bounce Back Loan applications 
• Funds were spent on share dealing platforms instead of supporting his business through the pandemic 
• The 43-year-old has been jailed and banned as a company director following investigations by the Insolvency Service

A Derby businessman who used Covid support scheme funds on online trading platforms has been jailed. 

Temidola Ojelabi secured £80,000 across two Bounce Back Loan applications for Platinum Gates Limited in 2020 when businesses were only entitled to a single loan. 

Money from the loans was then used on online trading platforms when it should have been spent supporting his business. 

Ojelabi, 43, of Glossop Street, Derby, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday 10 December. 

He was also disqualified as a company director for eight years. 

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: 

Temidola Ojelabi exploited a scheme designed to support small and medium-sized businesses through the pandemic, securing two Bounce Back Loans when you were only allowed one. 

Two different turnover figures were given on each application, and the funds were not used for the economic benefit of his business – a fundamental requirement of the scheme. Instead, money was spent on online trading platforms. 

Ojelabi’s actions showed a complete disregard for taxpayer money and the rules designed to support legitimate businesses.

Platinum Gates Limited was set up in October 2018 with Ojelabi as its sole director. Ojelabi said the company was an e-commerce venture and would buy and sell goods from various warehouse premises. 

In May 2020, Ojelabi secured £35,000 in Bounce Back Loan funds for the company after declaring its turnover was £150,000. 

Within one week, £34,000 of the funds were transferred to his personal bank account. 

Later the same month, £29,800 was moved from his personal account to a share dealing service. 

Ojelabi made a second Bounce Back Loan application in June 2020, this time applying for £45,000 and claiming his company’s turnover was £180,000. 

All the money was transferred to Ojelabi’s personal account within eight days. 

In interviews, Ojelabi accepted he took out the Bounce Back Loans but denied this was done fraudulently. 

Platinum Gates Limited entered liquidation in May 2021, with both loans unpaid. 

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.