Man used firm's Covid money to shop and go out

A fitness company owner who spent Covid loans for his company at a safari park, restaurants and paying off credit cards has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Junaid Dar, 34, from Birmingham, dishonestly obtained £45,500 in three Covid Bounce Back Loans for his company JDARPT Ltd, when businesses were only entitled to one, the Insolvency Service said.

Money from the loans was only supposed to be used for the economic benefit of the business.

Dar, from Stratford Road, who used some of the funds for legitimate purposes, was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for 18 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court, after pleading guilty.

He was also ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and 180 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £2,400.

Payments were made to Amazon and Argos, along with spending at restaurants and meat stores, the Insolvency Service said.

Further spending was identified at West Midlands Safari Park and making credit card payments, alongside genuine business expenditure.

Dar deliberately made false representations to fraudulently receive three loans, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service David Snasdell stated.

He added: "Instead of using this money to support his fitness business through the pandemic as intended, he diverted significant sums for personal spending."

Dar made fraudulent applications to three banks for Bounce Back Loans during 2020 for his fitness company, the Insolvency Service said.

His first fraudulent application was for a £13,000 loan in May 2020 and in it he claimed the turnover of JDAPRT, which went into liquidation in July 2021, was £55,000.

Two days later, Dar made a second application to a different bank for £15,000, saying his company's turnover was now £60,000.

His third fraudulent application in September was for a loan of £17,500, when he claimed turnover was £70,000.

Insolvency Service analysis revealed the company's turnover was closer to £61,000.

Dar admitted three charges of dishonestly making false representation to make gain for self/another or cause loss to another/expose other to risk.

Mr Snasdell said: "The Insolvency Service will not tolerate abuse of the public purse and will continue to pursue fraudsters who exploited schemes designed to help legitimate businesses during a national crisis."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.