A former fitness firm owner who spent money from Covid loans intended for his business at a safari park and restaurants has been handed a suspended sentence.
In 2020, Junaid Dar made fraudulent applications to three separate banks for Bounce Back Loans worth a combined total of £45,000 for his company, JDARPT Ltd, when businesses were only entitled to one.
The loan scheme helped small and medium-sized businesses borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 at a low interest rate.
Dar, of Stratford Road in Birmingham, first made a fraudulent application for a £13,000 Bounce Back Loan in May, 2020, claiming his fitness company's turnover was £55,000.
Just two days later, Dar made a second application to a different bank for a Bounce Back Loan of £15,000, stating the turnover was now £60,000.
The fraudster's third and final application in September, 2020, was for a Bounce Back Loan of £17,500.
This time, the 34-year-old falsely claimed his company’s turnover was £70,000, when in reality it was closer to £61,000.
While some of the funds were used for legitimate purposes, several transactions were found to be for personal use.
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|The former fitness firm owner made fraudulent applications to three separate banks for Covid loans in 2020
This included spending at West Midlands Safari Park, restaurants, meat stores, as well as payments to Amazon and Argos.
Credit card payments were also made.
Dar, of Stratford Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, at Wolverhampton Crown Court on July 10.
He was also ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity, 180 hours of unpaid work, and pay costs of £2,400.
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|Dar spent some of the money at West Midlands Safari Park
JDARPT was set up in March, 2017, with Dar as its sole director but went into liquidation in July, 2021.
Dar was also disqualified as a company director for 11 years from April, 2022, for his misconduct at JDARPT.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service which investigated the case, said: "Junaid Dar deliberately made false representations to fraudulently receive three Bounce Back Loans when businesses were only entitled to one.
"Instead of using this money to support his fitness business through the pandemic as intended, he diverted significant sums for personal spending.
"Bounce Back Loans were designed to provide quick and simple financial support to businesses genuinely affected by Covid.
"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."