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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Mr Perks, a consultant plastic surgeon, had provided evidence in disciplinary proceedings against Brooks, who faced potentially losing his job with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, the jury heard. When opening the prosecution's case, Tracy Ayling KC had told the trial it was 'clear that the defendant hated Graeme Perks' and wanted him 'out of the way'. Mr Perks, who was 65 at the time, had retired the month before the attack but suffered 'extremely life-threatening' injuries to his liver, intestines and pancreas, and was given a 95% chance of death. The victim woke up when Brooks smashed through his conservatory, and went downstairs where his feet 'felt a bit damp' from the petrol before he felt a 'blow to his body'. The court was told Brooks had also thrown petrol up the stair walls while Mr Perks's wife Bev and youngest son Henry were sleeping upstairs. The defendant was found asleep on a garden bench later that morning when he was taken to hospital for injuries to his hand, and was arrested. In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Ayling, Mr Perks said the incident had been an 'unimaginable catastrophe' for him and his family. He said: 'This has been a nightmare for my wife and son who must have wondered if I was going to survive. 'This has been beyond every struggle in our lives so far.' He added: 'I have no ill-feelings, hatred or bitterness towards my ex-colleague and derive no satisfaction from the guilty conviction. 'It is just another interesting chapter in life, and I wish his family well. 'I remain eternally grateful that it was me, not Bev or Henry who were stabbed, and reflect how ironic that a burns surgeon should wish to immolate our family.' Henry Perks, Mr Perks's son, described Brooks as a 'highly dangerous and remorseless individual' and 'nothing more than a bully', adding: 'He simply has no morals, sees no wrong in his actions and will stop at nothing to hurt those he perceives to have wronged him. 'I have no doubt his failure to silence my father will consume his mind and make him dangerous in the years after his release.' Ms Ayling said Brooks was 'manipulative' and had shown no remorse for what he had done. She said: 'He believes himself to be not guilty of the offences. He believes he has been unlawfully tried. 'He has a history of being manipulative.' Mitigating, Mr Leslie said it was a 'single act of violence' and that there was no pre-planning beyond the day of the attack. He said Brooks had petrol in his garage because he was a motorbike enthusiast and that he is 'beginning to show remorse' for what he had done. He told the court: 'He has done a lot of good in the world for many people. He should be provided with a chance to reform himself. There is still good in him. 'He is now 61, he must have the opportunity of coming out in his lifetime to return to society and be given the opportunity to carry out the good work he has demonstrated.' Mr Justice Pepperall said Brooks must serve a minimum of 22 years, with time spent in prison already taking that to 17 years and 223 days, for the two counts of attempted murder. A sentence of six years for arson and 18 months for possessing a knife are to run concurrently. The judge said Brooks, who specialised in treating burns, would have known the significant damage setting a fire would have caused, as well as how badly Mr Perks would have been injured when he stabbed him. He said: 'You must have had substantial professional experience of treating those who have suffered appalling and painful burns, and yet you attempted to set a fire in the middle of the night, intending to kill your former colleague and to endanger the lives of any other occupants as they lay sleeping in their beds. 'Further, you were a trained surgeon, and yet you plunged a knife into your colleague's body, passing through his liver, his pancreas, his duodenum and his inferior vena cava with the same murderous intent.' He said Brooks was 'fixated' on employment difficulties he was facing and blamed Mr Perks for his troubles. He said: 'Your key demand in negotiations to resolve your employment issues was that Mr Perks should be required to leave the (hospital) trust. 'Upon that evidence and your extreme actions on the night of January 14 2021, I am sure that your simmering sense of grievance towards Mr Perks developed into deep anger.' He added: 'There is evidence that your life was falling apart in January 2021. Your employment difficulties were coming to a head and you anticipated that the disciplinary hearing that opened earlier that week was likely to lead to your dismissal, the loss of your home and the breakdown of your marriage. 'While not mentally ill, you were under very significant pressure. In my judgement, your anger at the perceived injustice and hopelessness of your situation led to this explosion of very serious violence.' Mr Justice Pepperall said he could not be sure whether Brooks had spent more than a few hours before breaking into Mr Perks's house planning the 'murderous expedition' and despite Brooks's claims he had acted in self-defence when confronted by Mr Perks, the judge said he was sure that the defendant was the 'sole aggressor'. He also said he could not detect any remorse for what he had done, adding: 'But rather, a fixed view that you were hounded out of your employment by what you describe as the 'medical mafia' and self-pity at the situation in which you now find yourself.' In a statement after Brooks was sentenced, Sam Shallow from the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'Peter Brooks committed an act of extreme violence, attempting to murder a highly respected colleague. 'This was a planned, calculated attack, in which Brooks showed he was determined to kill his former colleague. 'Since committing these atrocious acts, Brooks has sought to evade responsibility. He has requested late adjournments, dispensed with his legal team, and used his health to avoid proper progress of the court proceedings. 'On each of the nine occasions the case has been listed at court, the prosecution team has been ready. 'Justice has now caught up with Brooks. 'His victim was fortunate to escape with his life and his whole family were in danger from Brooks's inexplicable actions. 'Despite the physical and emotional trauma they have endured, they have come to court to tell their story on two separate occasions. 'This has been a long process for them, but I hope that finally seeing these proceedings coming to a close will help them in their recovery from this ordeal.'
