A disgraced ex-councillor who tried to pocket nearly half a million pounds' in the Government's Eat Out To Help Out vouchers has been jailed.
Shameless Mohammed Ikram used his two café businesses to claim for £430,000 from the scheme set up to support hospitality businesses re-opening after the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020.
A court heard the 36-year-old from Keighley, West Yorkshire, set up seven fake food outlets to claim the funds on offer for cafés, bars and restaurants.
Ikram used hijacked company details to submit 19 fraudulent claims to get his hands on the cash, making £434,073 between August 7 and September 6 2020.
While Ikram received £189,208 in payments, further claims which totalled £244,865 were rejected by HMRC raising suspicions and prompting an investigation.
He pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown court in June last year to cheating the public revenue, fraud by false representation and associated money laundering.
The court heard Ikram had racked up debts of more than £75,000 in relation to "running a care home in Manchester" and "stupidly" saw the scheme "as a way of solving his immediate financial difficulties".
He was jailed for two-and-a-half years on Friday, as a judge described his crimes as "motivated by greed".
Judge Deputy Circuit Judge Timothy Clayson said: "Even if I accept your assertion that some of this money was obtained with a view to covering financial obligations, given the sums involved it's apparent the vast majority of this was motivated by greed."
Simon York, Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “This was a blatant fraud by somebody who held a position of trust and responsibility.
“These schemes were designed to support individuals and businesses during a terribly difficult period.
“Instead, Mohammed Ikram stole money which should have been paying for vital public services and helping those who needed it most.
“This is the first conviction of Covid scheme fraud by HMRC, but we have arrested 70 people and have a number of cases working their way through the criminal justice system.
“So far, we have prevented the payment of, or recovered more than £1.2billion, with compliance activity still ongoing.”
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme was introduced by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak to support the hospitality sector throughout August and September 2020, before the Government began to re-tighten restrictions.
It enabled restaurants, cafés, pubs and other food outlets to offer discount to customers and obtain a reimbursement from HMRC for the same amount.
Action to recover the stolen money has been launched.
