Fraudster posed as Greggs boss to defraud council during pandemic
A fraudster who posed as a Greggs boss to defraud a city council out of £710,000 in Covid loans has been jailed for four years.
Aftab Baig, 47, pretended to be a property manager for the bakery chain giant to fraudulently claim small business grants from Leeds city council during the pandemic.
He received the money against a number of Greggs buildings in the West Yorkshire city soon after Britain went into lockdown, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Guy Kearl KC, the Recorder of Leeds, told him: 'This was a disgraceful attempt to deprive the government of monies, which were in short supply at a time of extreme public anxiety and crisis.'
The judge said the 'sophisticated' fraud was conducted at a 'time of national emergency'.
Baig, of Paisley Road West, Glasgow, was found guilty of three counts at his trial. Leeds city council called his actions 'brazen and calculated'.
Covid small business scheme exploited
During the Covid pandemic, the government created a scheme called the Small Business Grant Fund to assist small businesses with their trading amid the lockdown. It was administered by local authorities.
In order to qualify for a grant, applicants had to complete an online application form and then submit it to the relevant local authority.
Nadim Bashir, prosecutor, told the court that Baig was the sole director of AUE Catering LTD, which operated within the take-away food business.
Baig initially sent an email pretending to be the group property manager for Greggs PLC to Leeds city council, asking for a business rates reference number for 32 business properties in the city.
This was provided by the council, after which he made a claim for £710,000 and, whilst posing as a responsible officer for Greggs PLC, provided his own Barclays Bank details for AUE Catering.
That sum was authorised by the business rates manager for Leeds city council, and the money was then sent to the AUE Catering Limited bank account.
Five days after the money had been paid on 22 May 2020, the council received information that the applications were fraudulent and his bank account was frozen. Before it was frozen, Baig had managed to transfer £95,000 to two separate accounts, one in the Netherlands.
On July 8, police found £16,000 in cash at his Glasgow flat and remittance slips from Leeds city council in the glove box of his car
Mr Bashir said the council has recovered most of the money but that over £90,000 remains outstanding and that there will be a proceeds of crime hearing at a later date.
In mitigation, Huw Edwards, Baig's barrister, said Baig had no previous convictions and the fraud was 'out of character'.
Defrauding the public
Following the guilty verdict, Kelly Ward, of the Crown Prosectuion Service, said: 'Baig took advantage of the difficult circumstances of the pandemic in 2020 to defraud the council out of taxpayers' money.
'Those who cheat the public purse are stealing funds which should rightly go towards services and the community or, in this case, towards supporting small businesses through an extremely challenging time.'
A Leeds city council spokesman said: 'This money was intended to support local businesses in Leeds at a time when they were facing unprecedented pressures and when the city and its communities were coming together to get through the pandemic.
'For someone to take advantage of such challenging circumstances and defraud the public purse is shocking and we would like to thank all those involved in this investigation for helping to ensure justice has been served.'
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