ovid Bounce Back loans worth £200,000 were given to a businessman who is at the centre of a High Court battle over a £1.6 million property “scam”, it has emerged.
Bhupinder Chohan, 54, secured four pandemic payouts of £50,000 each through companies with no assets and without the required turnover to qualify for the Government’s aid scheme. A High Court judge has now concluded Chohan made “false and dishonest” applications for the Bounce Back loans, rejecting his claims to have misunderstood the qualifying criteria.
The Government handed out more than £47 billion during the pandemic to help ailing businesses but is under intense scrutiny after it emerged £17 billion is expected to be lost, including nearly £5 billion to fraud.
Mr Chohan, the director of dozens of firms registered in England, the Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands, was the subject of a High Court order freezing his assets at the time of making the Bounce Back loan applications. Mr Chohan is also suspected of claiming furlough payments from the Government at a time when he had no salary.
The details emerged in a High Court claim brought against Mr Chohan by Saudi businessmen who allege they were swindled in a property investment “scam”.
“I am satisfied (he) completed false and dishonest applications to the government for Bounce Back loans”, concluded Mr Justice Leech, in a ruling at the end of last month.
Questions will be raised as to how Mr Chohan, who owns a property…
