A fraudster who defrauded the taxpayer of £195,000 in Covid loans by submitting fraudulent applications on behalf of legitimate businesses, including Greggs, has been given a suspended jail term by Southwark Crown Court. Rais Kayani, 31, benefited from the scheme by transferring the funds overseas. Kayani pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering and received a 16-month suspended sentence. Ben Reid, of the Crown Prosecution Service, stated that Kayani took advantage of the government funds meant to support struggling businesses during the Covid crisis. The Crown Prosecution Service has already recovered £155,000 and will seek a confiscation order for the remaining funds.
The government provided emergency funds through the Small Business Grant Fund to help companies in need during the pandemic. However, officials became suspicious of several applications made to the fund via local councils in St Helen’s, Merseyside, Thurrock, Essex, and Rochdale, Greater Manchester. An investigation by the National Investigation Service (NATIS) revealed that the three councils were defrauded of £35,000, £85,000, and £75,000 respectively, resulting in a total loss of £195,000. In one instance, the fraudsters impersonated Greggs in their application to St Helen’s council and used genuine business rate account numbers to support false rate grant applications. Although the individuals behind the fraudulent applications remain unidentified, the requested payments were all transferred to the bank account of RAK Traders and Services Ltd., based in Luton, Bedfordshire. Rais Kayani, the sole director of the company, received £195,000, which he subsequently transferred to overseas accounts.
Bank statements from the RAK Traders and Services Ltd. account showed that £195,000 was received from the local authorities. On May 12, 2020, £100,000 was transferred to a US dollar account, and on May 13, 2020, $47,500 (£37,000) was sent from the dollar account to an account in Hong Kong. Rais Kayani’s brother, Anis, stated that his brother did not profit from the scheme and implied that he was in a vulnerable state at the time of the offense as their mother had recently passed away. Michael Dineen, Deputy Director Head of Crime Operations at NATIS, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the case, emphasizing the importance of bringing those who defraud government schemes to justice and restoring the stolen funds to the public purse.
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