Middlesbrough man sentenced to 15 months in jail following BBL fraud
Ben Hamilton, a 34-year-old from Middlesbrough and director of Netelco Ltd, a telecommunications design & installation business based in Bishop Auckland has been found guilty of exploiting the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
This financial support mechanism was created to help genuine businesses affected by Covid-19 with interest-free loans up to £50K – meaning his company should have only received no more than that amount. Despite this fact, he applied for an obscenely high sum of £25k creating fraudulent circumstances which would eventually result in him being sentenced to 15 months imprisonment (suspended 18 months) under Britain’s Companies Act.
What happened?
On 14th May 2020, a loan was paid into the company bank account. The very next day, formal paperwork to dissolve the business was sent in by Hamilton to Companies House – but unfortunately, no one else involved with this deal had been informed of this action beforehand.
In fact, it’s illegal not to notify interested parties or creditors when applying for dissolution; and yet here there had still been none given fair warning before things went ahead! This non-compliance caught up with them eventually as their application for dissolution occurred in December 2020 – whereupon further investigations revealed that fraud on behalf of government Bounce Back Loans was at play behind these scenes.
What did The Insolvency Service do?
Ben Hamilton’s refusal to cooperate with The Insolvency Service’s investigation into alleged fraudulent activity prompted them to take drastic measures. They obtained a Proceeds of Crime Act restraining order on his bank accounts, at which point he quickly repaid the Bounce Back Loan in full.
He later plead guilty under the Companies Act 2006 charges and was given a 15-month suspended sentence plus costs totalling £2,500 by Teeside Crown Court for his role in this fraud case.
Julie Barnes, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service has this to say:
“This was a clear case of attempted fraud by a company director who thought he could abuse the Covid-19 financial support schemes and get away with it.
“Even though Ben Hamilton has now repaid the loan, this sentence sends a clear warning to others that attempting to defraud taxpayers is not acceptable, and when prosecuting The Insolvency Service will use all of the tools in its armoury, including the Proceeds of Crime Act, to prevent criminals from retaining their benefit from crime.”
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