Tour operator boss jailed for Covid loan fraud

The director of a tour operator has been jailed for Covid loan fraud, having secured two £50,000 payments when businesses were only entitled to one.

Raja Imtiaz, of London Road, Blackburn, fraudulently applied for a second Bounce Back Loan on behalf of Al Fayroz Travel & Tourism Limited in the summer of 2020, two weeks after securing another maximum-value £50,000 loan for the company.  

The 52-year-old was jailed for two years and two months at Preston Crown Court on Thursday, September 18.

He was also disqualified as a company director for six-and-a-half years. 

David Snasdell, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Raja Imtiaz exploited a scheme designed to support small businesses during the pandemic. 

“The rules of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme were crystal clear – businesses were only allowed a single loan. 

“Imtiaz’s dishonesty has landed him behind bars and serves as a warning that the Insolvency Service will relentlessly pursue fraudsters who so cynically abused Covid support schemes.”

Al Fayroz Travel & Tourism Limited was established in October 2017, with Imtiaz appointed as director in November 2019. 

The two Bounce Back Loan applications were made to separate banks in late June and early July 2020. 

Imtiaz fraudulently declared on the second application that it was his only application for a Bounce Back Loan for the business. 

In interviews with the Insolvency Service, Imtiaz claimed he had only made the second application because he was concerned that the first loan request had not been approved. 

Investigators discovered that this was dishonest as Imtiaz had already received the first £50,000 at the time of this second application. 

The Insolvency Service is a government agency that supports people in financial distress and tackles financial wrongdoing.