A 47-year-old man, Aftab Baig, has been found guilty of defrauding Leeds City Council out of £710,000 in a fraudulent scheme that exploited government grants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Baig, who falsely claimed to be a property manager for the popular bakery chain Greggs, submitted fraudulent small business grant claims for 32 properties in May 2020.
According to court proceedings at Leeds Crown Court, Baig contacted Leeds City Council pretending to be a group property manager at Greggs’ head office.
Claiming he was unable to access the necessary business rates information due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, he requested details for the firm’s Leeds branches.
With this information, he applied for funding from the Small Business Grant Fund, a government scheme designed to support struggling small businesses during the pandemic. The money was then paid into a bank account linked to his catering business.
Baig, who had no connection to Greggs and was not employed by the company, managed to fraudulently claim a total of £710,000.
However, once the council discovered the scam, the fraudulent account was frozen, and Baig was arrested in Glasgow by Police Scotland two months later.
Following his arrest, almost all of the defrauded money – all but £90,000 – was recovered and returned to the council.
At the trial, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) detailed that Baig was found guilty on three counts of fraud. His sentencing is scheduled for 31 March at Leeds Crown Court.
CPS representative Kelly Ward stated, “Baig took advantage of the difficult circumstances of the pandemic in 2020 to defraud the council out of taxpayers’ money.
“Those who cheat the public purse are stealing funds which should rightly go towards services and the community or, in this case, towards supporting small businesses through an extremely challenging time.”
The CPS has confirmed that proceedings will be initiated to recover any assets acquired through Baig’s criminal activities.
The Small Business Grant Fund was established to help small businesses remain operational during the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, the scheme has been targeted by fraudsters, exploiting the relaxed conditions and high demand for emergency funding. Baig’s case is one of several high-profile scams during this period, highlighting the vulnerabilities in government support programmes.
Greggs, one of the UK’s leading bakery chains, became the unlikely front for this fraudulent scheme when Baig falsely used the brand’s reputation to lend credibility to his claims.
His deceit underscores the importance of stringent checks on public funding applications, especially in times of crisis.
