A man has been jailed for four years for defrauding Leeds City Council out of more than £710,000, which was meant to support small businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Aftab Baig, 47, from Glasgow, made fraudulent grant claims against 32 properties, which were branches of Greggs, arranging for the money to go into his business account. He did this at the height of the pandemic while the country was locked down and small businesses struggled to stay afloat.
The money came from the Small Business Grant Fund, one of several schemes set up by the government to help small businesses with business rate relief.
In May 2020, Baig contacted Leeds Council, pretending to be a Group Property Manager at Greggs Head Office, asking for business rate numbers for Leeds branches, details which he claimed he could not access himself due to lockdown.
Baig, who had no links to Greggs and was not employed by them, used the details to apply for rates relief to the tune of £710,000, which was paid into a bank account associated with his catering business.
In May 2020, with the council having realised the claims were fraudulent, action was taken, which resulted in the account being frozen. While most of the money was later returned to the council, more than £90,000 was left outstanding.
At Baig’s house, £16,000 in cash was found, as well as forged remittance slips that officers believed he was planning to use to try and persuade the bank to return the frozen money.
