A self-employed construction contractor from East London has been ordered to pay £10,000 within one week after transferring a covid support loan to his personal account.
Adam Lennard, 58, applied for a £20,000 Bounce Back Loan in August 2020, claiming the annual turnover of his East London Property Maintenance business was £80,000. However, the real turnover of his company was under £50,000 in 2019.
Bounce Back Loans allowed a business affected by the covid pandemic to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of the company turnover in the calendar year 2019, with a maximum loan of £50,000.
Lennard also fraudulently declared he would use the funds for his business in his application.
During interviews with the Insolvency Service, he admitted to using the loan for his personal use, transferring the money to his own bank account between August and November 2020.
In August 2021, Lennard was declared bankrupt.
Lennard was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 15 months, after appearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday 5 February. He was also ordered to pay half of the £20,000 back within seven days after appearing in court.
Chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, Julie Barnes, said: “Lennard overstated the turnover for his business, used the funds for his own personal and family use and had no intention of ever paying the money back.
“The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to prosecute cases like this and Lennard now has a criminal conviction as a consequence of his fraudulent actions.”
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