- Sohail Cheema fraudulently obtained £30,000 in Covid Bounce Back Loans by inflating his company’s turnover and making two separate applications when businesses were only entitled to one
- Both loans were transferred out of Cheema’s business accounts on the day they were received, with none of the money used legitimately
- Cheema was handed a suspended sentence and director disqualification after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering following Insolvency Service investigations
A Wolverhampton director has been sentenced for fraud and money laundering after pocketing £30,000 in Covid loans he was not entitled to.
Sohail Cheema falsely declared his company’s turnover was £60,000 when applying to two separate banks for £15,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020.
His business, Sohail Cheema Limited, set up for him to gain agency employment as a self-employed bus driver, was not actually trading.
The 35-year-old transferred the full proceeds of both loans out of his business bank accounts on the same day they were received, passing the money to his personal accounts and to his wife’s account.
The funds would eventually form part of a £90,000 payment to a third party in August 2021.
There is no evidence that any of the £30,000 was used for the economic benefit of the business, as was required under the scheme.
Cheema, of Richmond Road, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday 29 June.
He was disqualified as a company director for 10 years and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
Cheema must also complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said
Sohail Cheema deliberately made two fraudulent applications for Bounce Back Loans, knowing full well he was not entitled to either. He overstated his company’s turnover and, on the same day the money arrived, transferred it all out of his business accounts.
Not a single penny was used to support his business as the scheme required.
Bounce Back Loans were a lifeline for genuine businesses struggling through the pandemic, funded by the taxpayer.
This case is a further reminder that the Insolvency Service will continue to pursue those who exploited Covid support schemes, and that doing so carries serious consequences.
Cheema opened a business bank account with the sole purpose of applying for a Bounce Back Loan in May 2020.
Over the following weeks he sent four messages to the bank asking when he could apply for the loan, claiming his company was in desperate need of Covid support.
By July, he had applied for a £15,000 Bounce Back Loan, stating his company’s turnover was £60,000.
That turnover was more than his business ever made.
Cheema transferred the whole £15,000 to his personal accounts and wife’s account on the same day the loan arrived.
While still waiting to hear back from his first bank, Cheema had opened a second business account at a different bank.
Knowing he was not entitled to another loan, he made a second application. He again falsely claimed a £60,000 turnover and received a further £15,000 later that same month.
Once again, the full amount was cleared from the account on the day it arrived.
The full £30,000 in loan proceeds passed through accounts held by Cheema and his wife, before forming part of a £90,000 payment made from his wife’s bank account to a third party in August 2021.
Sohail Cheema Limited went into liquidation in May 2021.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
