“Those who cheat the public purse are stealing funds"
A man has been jailed for four years after defrauding Leeds City Council out of more than £710,000 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Glasgow-based Aftab Baig falsely claimed grants intended for struggling small businesses at the height of the lockdown.
He targeted 32 Leeds properties, which were branches of Greggs.
Baig arranged for the money to be paid into his bank account.
The money came from the Government’s Small Business Grant Fund. This scheme was set up to support businesses with business rates relief during the pandemic when many were forced to close and faced severe financial pressures.
In May 2020, Baig contacted Leeds City Council pretending to be a Group Property Manager at Greggs Head Office.
He asked for business rates numbers for Leeds branches, details which he claimed he could not access himself due to the lockdown.
In reality, Baig had no connection to Greggs and had never worked for the bakery chain.
He used the details provided to submit fraudulent applications for rates relief totalling over £710,000. These were approved and paid directly into a bank account associated with his catering business.
The fraud was discovered shortly afterwards and Leeds City Council took swift action.
The bank account receiving the funds was frozen, and while most of the money was later returned, more than £90,000 remains outstanding.
Baig was arrested in July 2020 in Glasgow by officers from Police Scotland following an investigation led by the National Investigation Service (NATIS).
When officers searched his home, they found £16,000 in cash and several forged remittance slips, which they believe were intended to deceive the bank into releasing the frozen funds.
He was found guilty of three counts of fraud at Leeds Crown Court on February 12.
Baig was jailed for four years.
Kelly Ward, of 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.”
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