A 46-year-old man has been jailed in London for fraudulently obtaining Covid-19 Bounce Back Loans and using part of the money to fund a trading company in Ghana.
Eric Agyeman, of Mace Street, London, admitted fraud and money laundering offences after he secured £130,000 under three separate loan applications for DOK Logistics UK Ltd, a non-trading company. The terms of the government's pandemic support scheme was that only one loan was permitted per business.
Insolvency Service inquiries established that Agyeman fabricated company turnover figures of up to £375,000 in order to secure the loans.
He acknowledged during interviews that the figures were "just something I just made up."
Agyeman was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, 9 September, to two years and two months in prison. He was also disqualified from serving as a company director for five years.
Detectives say Agyeman used more than £40,000 of the funds sending goods from the UK to a contact in Ghana, who resold them and sent commission payments back. Profits were then brought back to the UK in cash by passengers.
David Snasdell, chief of investigations at the Insolvency Service, condemned Agyeman's actions, saying: "Eric Agyeman shamelessly exploited a scheme designed to help struggling businesses through the pandemic for personal gain, using the funds for a business venture in Africa. Agyeman's own admission that he simply 'made up' turnover figures shows complete disregard for the taxpayer-funded support that was meant to enable viable businesses to remain in business.
The Insolvency Service also added that, despite it being more than five years since the start of the pandemic, it remains committed to pursuing individuals who enriched themselves illegally using government Covid schemes. Officials are now seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.