Fraudster jailed after stealing £27k from Covid ‘Eat Out to Help Out’
A Birmingham accountant who swindled £27,000 from the Eat Out to Help Out scheme has been jailed for three years and eight months as part of a wider Covid support fraud totalling over £268,000.
Zeeshan Ashraf, 44, exploited multiple pandemic support schemes through his company AZ Certified Accounting Limited, making fraudulent claims between April 2020 and April 2021.
Through his accounting firm, Ashraf secured £50,000 bounce-back loans from each of Barclays, Starling and NatWest banks in 2020.
He falsely inflated his company’s turnover figures to obtain maximum loan amounts.
The accountant failed to disclose his previous applications when approaching the second and third banks, despite rules permitting only one loan per business.
The funds, intended to support businesses during the pandemic, were instead spent on his personal lifestyle.
Ashraf fraudulently claimed £91,174 through the Covid Job Retention Scheme by submitting multiple false or unauthorised applications to HMRC on behalf of his business clients.
He attempted to claim an additional £38,082 through the scheme, but these applications were unsuccessful.
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Through the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, Ashraf defrauded HMRC of £26,928 by submitting multiple applications for non-existent hospitality businesses.
He also made claims on behalf of companies that were not operating in the restaurant sector.
A further £14,651 in fraudulent claims under the scheme were attempted but failed to succeed.
Kate Hurst from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “At a time of national crisis, organisations relied on people to make honest claims for support, but this allowed unscrupulous individuals to take advantage.”
“This crucial lifeline to help businesses was seen by Zeeshan Ashraf as his personal piggy bank,” she added.
The CPS will seek to recover the remaining funds, with only a small amount having been repaid so far.
Ashraf pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud at Birmingham Magistrates Court in September 2024.
He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 3 February 2025.
The fraudulent activities spanned a period from April 2020 to April 2021, during which he attempted to claim a total of £320,834.73 through various Covid support schemes.