Fraud-busters have clawed back just half a per cent of the £1.1billion lost to Covid loan fraudsters.
More than £47billion in Bounce Back loans was doled out to help businesses survive the first year of lockdown. Applicants secured up to £50,000, underwritten by taxpayers, with minimal checks.
Ministers estimate £1.1billion was lost to criminals. The National Investigation Service launched 273 probes since September 2020 but has got back just £5.8million.
Lib Dem health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “Conservative ministers must step up efforts to recover the money wasted on dodgy Covid loans at this time of huge spending pressures.”
Bounce Back loans propped up 1.5 million firms, with many paid within 48 hours of applying. Many businesses vastly inflated their revenues to secure the full £50,000. Yet by December just two had been prosecuted.
Pizza takeaway boss Abdulrazag Zagroba, 54, of Manchester, was jailed for two years after applying for a £20,000 loan having begun to dissolve his company.
And Middlesbrough telecoms director Ben Hamilton, 34, got a suspended 18-month sentence after taking a £25,000 loan and dissolving his firm the next day.
Another trickster, London letting agent Laszlo Szabo, 49, got £100,000 after applying four times. He was banned from being a director for 11 years when his company went into liquidation and the Insolvency Service admits it is unlikely to get the money back.
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake said: “Government continues to work with law enforcement to recover fraudulently obtained loans.”
Labour’s Justin Madders said: “The Tories tell us there is no money to pay our NHS heroes a decent wage. Yet they wrote cheques worth hundreds of millions to criminals - and have shown zero interest in clawing it back.”
