Two company directors have had their permissions restricted after falsely applying for bounce back loans during the pandemic.
Junaid Dar, 31, from Birmingham applied for a bounce back loan after he submitted accurate financial statements and received £13,000 in May 2020.
However, the insolvency service began to investigate Dar’s contact after his company, JFarPT Ltd, a gym operator, entered liquidation in July 2021.
They found that Dar had also applied for additional loans with separate financial institutions, and his company received £32,500 in loans which it was not entitled to.
Dar has now been banned from running a company for 11 years, effective from April 27 this year.
The bounce back loan scheme was created during the pandemic to support businesses during the period.
David Michael Godderidge, 40, from Tamworth, applied for bankruptcy in October 2021 and declared himself as a self-employed roofer.
The official receiver uncovered that Godderidge had provided incorrect information in order to obtain a loan that was far greater than that to which he was entitled.
The roofer had instructed a third party to make the loan application on his behalf using inflated turnover figures.
He then spent the £13,000 bounce back loan on gambling within three weeks.
The Insolvency Service said due to the risk he posed to other creditors, the Official Receiver sought to extend his bankruptcy restrictions, which have been extended for seven years.
This means he is limited as to what credit he can access, and he cannot act as a company director without the permission of the court.
In both cases, the liquidator and trustee in bankruptcy are assessing whether the pair are able to repay the funds, and will pursue them if they have the means.
Sue Macleod at the Insolvency Service, said: "Bounce back loans were made available for trading businesses adversely affected by the pandemic and were issued based on accurate financial statements.
"Both Junaid Dar and David Godderidge cynically applied for loans far greater than they were entitled to and clearly thought they could get away it.
"Thankfully our interventions uncovered their abuse and their restrictions will prevent them from abusing their position in the future."
sally.hickey@ft.com
