A fraudster has avoided jail after he falsely claimed £30,000 in Covid loans from the Government.
Sohail Cheema, 35, of Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering related to Covid Bounce Back loans and was handed a two-year suspended sentence.
The Insolvency Service said he falsely inflated the turnover of a company he set up to find agency work as a bus driver to £60,000.
He also applied for two separate bounce-back loans in 2020, when businesses across the UK were only entitled to one.
The Covid Bounce Back loans were set up by the Government to help small and medium businesses to get back on their feet following the global pandemic.
Cheema was disqualified as a company director for 10 years and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
His business, Sohail Cheema Limited, which was liquidated in May 2021, had set up a new banking account with the “sole purpose of applying for a Bounce Back Loan in May 2020,” the IS confirmed.
The IS confirmed it was looking to recover the funds claimed by Cheema under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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