Two directors disqualified for BBL fraud
Two Scottish company directors have been disqualified after separate investigations found them guilty of bounce back loan (BBL) fraud.
Shahzad Arshad, 43, and Alexander Stewart Cooper, 70, from Glasgow, have both been disqualified after claiming the maximum amount under the BBL scheme – £50,000.
Arshad was the director of two companies – Town Discount and Naz Accessories – which were both based in Glasgow. He inflated both companies’ turnover in his BBL applications, and went on to receive £50,000 per company from the scheme.
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Both companies later went into liquidation, owing more than £106,000, including around £93,400 that was owed for the BBL. This triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
Arshad has been banned from holding the position of company director for 11 years, starting from 21 November 2022.
Meanwhile, Cooper was a director of Traprain Homes, a construction company which went into liquidation in June 2021. Traprain received the maximum BBL of £50,000, after Cooper claimed that the company’s turnover was £1,014,930.
However, investigators learned that the company had been insolvent at the time that Cooper had applied for the loan.
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Cooper has now fully repaid the loan following recovery action by the company’s liquidator.
“Bounce back loans were an emergency measure made available to help British businesses trading through the most testing of times,” said Steven McGinty, investigation manager at the Insolvency Service.
“Cooper breached the eligibility criteria and then took the money for personal gain, while Arshad should have known his companies weren’t entitled to the loans, yet he took them anyway.
“This abuse of government support has led to lengthy bans and should serve as a warning to others that we will not hesitate to take action against directors who have abused Covid-19 financial support.”
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