Latest stats on Covid19 related fraud;
Over 450 directors have been disqualified by the Insolvency Service in 2022-23 for abusing the COVID-19 financial support scheme, as the agency continues to clamp down on pandemic fraudsters.
The government estimated the total losses from ounceback, furlough and loan fraud as being anything up to £6 billion between 2020-22. In short, they don’t know. That said, plenty of company directors have been disqualified as the data trail reveals various fake companies, bogus turnover claims and directors treating themselves to new cars and Rolex watches with the Covid loans and grants.
Figures published recently by the Insolvency Service also show that directors guilty of COVID-19 related misconduct are being hit with longer disqualification periods. The average length of bans handed out to directors in the last year was seven years four months, up from five years ten months in 2021-22.
Of the total 932 director disqualifications obtained by the Insolvency Service in 2022-23 – 459 were cases involving COVID-19 financial support scheme abuse.
In addition to its civil enforcement action, the Insolvency Service also brought criminal prosecutions against six directors in 2022-23 for COVID-19 related misconduct. All of the prosecutions resulted in a conviction and resulted in immediate imprisonment in one case.
Be the first to comment