Councillor tried to con £10k of Covid support
Officials spotted his pizza shop was not even operating
AFORMER councillor who provided lockdown help to businesses has been found guilty of conning the government’s Covid bounce back scheme.
Harman Banger and his wife attempted to wring thousands in pandemic grant aid to help their pizza business survive. Yet investigators discovered the takeaway was not even up and running.
At Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on Friday, the 39-year-old, a former Wolverhampton Council cabinet member for economy, was found guilty of fraud by false representation.
Wife Neena Kumari was convicted of the same charge.
The pair will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on January 14.
The trial heard on April 24, 2020, Kumari applied for a small business grant of £10,000 to help the couple’s Pizza Plus parlour survive. It was alleged the business had been operating since October, 2019.
But a probe by the local authority’s counter fraud team and West Midlands Police found there was no record of electricity being supplied to the business until May 16, 2020.
The property had been boarded-up and needed repair. It was not operating.
Because of the findings, the grant was not paid.
Banger used the knowledge gained while a council cabinet member to cheat the system.
His is a stunning fall from grace. On a City of Wolverhampton Council bulletin – still available online – he
pledged to help companies struggling through coronavirus.
Banger said: “The fast moving changes necessary to stop the spread of coronavirus is making it a hugely challenging time for all employers and businesses. We are continuing to work closely with regional partners to provide targeted advice and guidance or sign post businesses to the best sources of help.
“One of our key priorities is working with central government to ensure the additional economic measures it has put in place are administered as swiftly as possible to maximise the benefit to employers and businesses.”
On business networking site LinkedIn, he states: “My name is Harman Banger. I have been a Wolverhampton City Councillor since 2011. I am a successful businessman who is commercially aware and has academic abilities and I earned an LLB(Hons) at the University of Wolverhampton. I have been politically involved in elections and campaigning in India (Punjab) and England. I have experience of involvement of different roles within the party politics at all levels from ward level, constituency level to citywide. I am committed to serving all parts of the community regardless of colour, creed or ethnicity to ensure we move forward.”
When the storm first broke, Wolverhampton Council said Banger was stepping down from his cabinet role – a position he had held since May, 2019 – for “personal reasons”.
It later emerged he was asked to step down from his role by council leader Ian Brookfield
He was suspended by his own Labour group in July last year while an internal investigation took place.
Cllr Brookfield said last year: “When I was made aware that he was under investigation I asked Cllr Banger to step down from cabinet.
“It is vital that the police are allowed to complete their inquiries unhindered and it would be inappropriate to comment further.
“As always, my priority and the focus of my colleagues remains the effective delivery of council services for the people of Wolverhampton, amid the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic.”
Following Friday’s verdict, Wendy Stevens, specialist fraud prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “As a trusted, elected official, Harman Banger abused his position of power alongside his wife Neena Kumari in order to de-fraud the public at a time of national crisis.
“Banger had a deep understanding of the eligibility of such Covid-19 business support schemes and tried to exploit the system by claiming for a business that the pair knew was not eligible.”