Fraudster tried to claim COVID grant

Slough: Man convicted for £10k compensation scam

A former private hire company owner has been convicted of trying to pocket a £10,000 COVID-19 business grant he was not entitled to.

Saeed Ahmed, of Salt Hill Way, applied for the grant by filling in forms through Slough Borough Council’s website and claiming the information provided was true.

The financial support, dished out by local authorities across the country, was designed to soften the blow dealt to businesses by coronavirus.

But officers discovered the 60-year-old’s application was not valid as he had sold his company four months before the first national lockdown in March.

Ahmed appeared at Reading Magistrates’ Cour t on Friday, December 11 where he admitted one count of making false representations with intent to make a financial gain on July 23.

The court was told Ahmed had stated on his application for the grant he had been running a business from an address in Church Street, Slough, despite no longer being the occupant of the address.

The business premises had been occupied by a new business owner since November 2019.

The grant was not paid out after the anomaly was identified through counter fraud checks by council staff.

Ahmed was sentenced to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £1086.50 costs.

Cllr Pavitar K. Mann, cabinet member for planning and regulation, said: “Council staff worked tirelessly this year administering extra grants and benefits brought in by the Government to mitigate the effects of coronavirus.

“Thanks to the thorough checks and balances, those who met the government guidelines were paid the g rant.

“It is sad there are some people out there who thought this would be a way to make quick cash off the back of others who were struggling.”

In the first lockdown which began at the end of March, the council’s business rates team received 2,861 grant applications and granted a total of 1,434, totalling £18.7million.