Zeeshan Ashraf, a Birmingham accountant, fraudulently claimed £270,000 in Covid support funds, leading to a prison sentence of three years and eight months.
Birmingham: A greedy accountant named Zeeshan Ashraf has been jailed for fraud. He claimed nearly £270,000 in Covid-19 support funds he wasn’t entitled to. This included bounce back loans and payments from the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme.
Ashraf, 44, lived on Glaisdale Road in Hall Green. He abused his trust as an accountant at AZ Certified Accountants. He admitted to five counts of fraud committed between April 2020 and April 2021.
On February 3, he was sentenced to three years and eight months in Birmingham Crown Court. The judge said he took advantage of a national crisis out of pure greed.
He inflated his business turnover to claim three bounce loans of £50,000 each. Instead of helping his business, he used the money for personal expenses while in debt.
Ashraf also made multiple false applications to HMRC for the Job Retention Scheme, illegally obtaining £91,174. He defrauded the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme of £26,928 by submitting fake applications for non-existent restaurants.
In total, he claimed £268,102.07 and tried to apply for another £50,000. The prosecutor said the money went into his account and was quickly spent on personal items.
His lawyer argued that Ashraf was the main carer for his father and that jail would impact his family. He had repaid about £33,000 of the money so far.
HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service stated that Ashraf breached the trust placed in him as an accountant. They are committed to bringing fraudsters like him to justice.
The Crown Prosecution Service added that Ashraf saw government support as his personal piggy bank. They will seek to recover the remaining funds to return to the public purse.
