- Harjinder Singh legitimately secured a £20,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020 before fraudulently obtaining a second £30,000 loan the following month
- He failed to declare the fraudulent second loan when applying for a £95,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan later that year
- Singh was handed a suspended sentence and director disqualification after Insolvency Service investigations into his fraudulent actions
A West Midlands property developer and lettings agent has been sentenced after fraudulently obtaining two separate Covid support loans designed to help businesses through the pandemic.
Harjinder Singh had already claimed a legitimate £20,000 Bounce Back Loan for HP Property (International) Ltd in May 2020 when he went back for more the following month.
The 44-year-old lied to a second bank, falsely declaring it was his first application, and secured a £30,000 Bounce Back Loan he was not entitled to.
He then failed to declare the £30,000 loan when he applied for a £95,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan later that year.
Singh, of Stonnall Road, Aldridge, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday 12 May.
He was also disqualified as a company director for seven years, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, and 20 days of rehabilitation activities.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said
Harjinder Singh exploited Covid support schemes that were created in good faith to help businesses survive one of the most difficult periods in recent memory.
He made deliberate false declarations across two separate applications to keep money he had no right to.
The Insolvency Service remains committed to ensuring that Covid fraudsters face the consequences of their actions.
HP Property (International) Ltd was set up in January 2016 and traded as a residential property developer and letting agent.
In an interview with the Insolvency Service, Singh acknowledged the application for a £30,000 Bounce Back Loan broke the rules of the scheme, admitting he had not read the terms and conditions and saying “we just clicked it”.
Singh’s application for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan – a separate government-backed scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses safeguard against lost revenues and disrupted cashflow during the pandemic – was made in October 2020.
Under the scheme’s rules, any outstanding Bounce Back Loan had to be repaid using the new funding, meaning Singh was legally required to disclose it.
He disclosed the first £20,000 Bounce Back Loan which was duly repaid as the scheme required, but failed to declare the fraudulent £30,000, allowing him to keep the money.
HP Property (International) Ltd went into compulsory liquidation in November 2021 after the lender of the business interruption loan went to court to recover the money it was owed.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.