Accountant Supporting Ex-Offenders, Becomes a Bounceback Loan Offender

The latest from The Insolvency Service, with just a touch of irony about this one;

An accountant who ran a business supporting ex-offenders has been banned as a director after abusing the Bounce Back Loan scheme. Dion Perry Mailich, 51, from Borehamwood, has been disqualified for 12 years and has pledged to pay £75,000 compensation after an Insolvency Service investigation found he took out three Bounce Back Loans and claimed five times the amount his company was entitled to.

Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, said

The rules were very clear but Dion Mailich ignored them and took an extra £100,000 from taxpayers that his business was clearly not entitled to.

We will not tolerate such abuse of public money. Mailich now has a lengthy ban and has undertaken to pay tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.

This outcome should be a warning to others that we will be seek action against cases of abuse by company directors.

Mailich was a director of Renovare Financial Service Ltd, a company which helped ex-offenders get back on their feet after getting out of prison. The company went into liquidation in December 2022 and a report from the company’s liquidator triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service into Mailich’s conduct. The investigation found that in May 2020, Mailich, a chartered accountant had applied for a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan on behalf of the firm. The amount was the maximum his business was eligible to receive, based on its previous year’s turnover.

However, the Investigation discovered that Mailich applied for a second Bounce Back Loan of £50,000 for the business less than two weeks after he had received the first, and then made a third £50,000 loan application in June 2020. In total, Renovare Financial Services Ltd received five times what it was entitled to under the scheme. On 15 March 2024, Mailich gave the Insolvency Service an undertaking to pay £75,000 compensation.

The Secretary of State also accepted a disqualification undertaking from Mailich, and his 12-year ban began on 20 October 2023. His disqualification prevents him from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.