A Bradford man who defrauded the Government's Covid-19 support scheme by using his wife's name has been ordered to hand back £123,000 following a Proceeds of Crime hearing.
Shohid Ahmed, 41, of Bardsey Crescent, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Bradford Crown Court in May 2025 after admitting to five offences related to pandemic loan fraud.
The confiscation order, issued on March 12, also includes £6,000 in costs.
Ahmed exploited the Bounce Back Loan programme designed to assist struggling businesses during the pandemic, obtaining funds through deception and identity theft.
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The court heard he had pleaded guilty to breaches of the Fraud Act 2006, Companies Act 2006 and Insolvency Act 1986.
The fraudster submitted three applications for maximum-value Bounce Back Loans through Red Square Restaurants Limited during May and June 2020.
He claimed the Mirfield establishment, trading as Ruby's Lounge on Huddersfield Road, remained operational despite having requested the company be struck from the Companies House register just weeks earlier.
In that April 2020 application, Ahmed himself declared the business had ceased trading for three months.
Of the £150,000 sought across the applications, Ahmed successfully obtained £100,000.
A Bradford man who defrauded the government's Covid-19 support scheme by using his wife's name has been ordered to hand over £123,000 following a Proceeds of Crime hearing
| GETTYThe funds were also never used for legitimate business purposes which were required in the scheme.
In the nearly six years since committing the fraud, Ahmed has returned a mere £15,000 of the stolen money.
He exploited his wife's superior credit rating by making the applications under her name.
Ahmed's scheme involved a particularly disturbing element of identity theft targeting an innocent woman who had rented accommodation from his father.
He stole her passport details and other personal information she had provided for tenancy purposes, then filed fraudulent documents with Companies House naming her as a company director.
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Shohid Ahmed had already been jailed for two years at Bradford Crown Court
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The woman, who had no connection whatsoever to the restaurant business, later provided a victim impact statement describing the anxiety caused by discovering her identity had been misused.
Ahmed also fabricated an invoice purporting to show £15,000 spent on refurbishment through an interior design company in Stockton-on-Tees.
Insolvency Service investigators discovered the address housed a cafe that had operated there for 37 years, with neither the cafe nor its landlord having any knowledge of the supposed design firm.
Ahmed was already serving a two-year prison term after admitting to five charges of Covid-related fraud when he was ordered to repay the funds.
Judge Sophie McKone condemned Ahmed's actions as "callous" when sentencing him.
"Bounce Back Loans were designed to help legitimate businesses survive one of the most difficult periods in recent memory. Shohid Ahmed abused that scheme through harmful and deceptive behaviour, which is why he was jailed last year," said Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service.
"This confiscation order sends a clear message that a prison sentence is not the end of the matter. Those who steal from the public purse should be in no doubt that we will come for the fraudulently-obtained money."
Ahmed must settle the £123,000 within three months or face an additional 15 months behind bars.
Even if he serves this extra time, the debt will remain outstanding.
The fraudster was also barred from serving as a company director for 11 years in December 2021.
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