A GLASGOW crook has been jailed after defrauding Leeds City Council out of hundreds of thousands of pounds during Covid.
Aftab Baig was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court on February 12 of defrauding the English local authority out of more than £710,000, which was meant to support small businesses during the pandemic.
The 47-year-old made fraudulent claims against thirty-two properties, which were branches of Greggs, arranging for the money to go into his business account.
Aftab Baig (Image: Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service)
Baig did this at the height of the pandemic when the country was locked down and small businesses were struggling to survive.
The money came from the Small Business Grant Fund, one of various government schemes set up to help small businesses with business rates relief.
In May 2020, Baig contacted Leeds City Council pretending to be a Group Property Manager at Greggs Head Office.
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He asked for business rates numbers for Leeds branches, details which he claimed he could not access himself due to lockdown.
The fraudster, who had no links to the bakery chain and was not employed by them, used the details to apply for rates relief to the tune of £710,000, which was then paid into a bank account associated with his catering business.
After realising the claims were fraudulent, the council immediately took action, which resulted in the account being frozen.
Most of the money was returned to the local authority; however, more than £90,000 was left outstanding.
Following an investigation led by the National Investigation Service (NATIS), Baig was arrested in Glasgow in July 2020 by Police Scotland officers.
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At his house, £16,000 in cash was discovered as well as forged remittance slips which cops believed Baig was planning to use to try and persuade the bank to return the frozen money.
Baig was jailed today (April 15) for four years.
Kelly Ward from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “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.
“We will not hesitate to work together with investigators such as NATIS to bring offenders like Baig to justice.
“We will also be starting proceedings to recover any assets resulting from this criminality.”