AN ASIAN boss of a London printing firm has been convicted of illegally obtaining a second loan for his company. Businesses were only entitled to one loan under the government's Covid-19 Bounce Back Loan scheme.
Prashant Jobanputra, 41, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, at the Old Bailey court in London on Tuesday (27), the Insolvency Service announced this in a statement.
He was also banned from being a company director for three years, and was ordered to pay a £5,000 fine.
"Prashant Jobanputra fraudulently applied for two Bounce Back Loans when the rules were clear – businesses were only allowed one," said David Snasdell, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service.
"We will be conducting further investigations to recover the remaining funds. Tackling COVID support scheme abuse remains a key priority for the Insolvency Service. We will continue to track down and prosecute fraudsters who stole from the public purse during a national emergency," he said.
Jobanputra applied for two £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for his printing business, Genesis Web Limited. He made both applications within five days in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He falsely declared on the second application that this was the only Bounce Back Loan he had applied for.
He has since repaid £15,371 of the second loan in November 2025. The remaining £35,000 is being pursued by the Insolvency Service under the UK's Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Genesis Web Limited was registered with the UK's Companies House in November 2004. Jobanputra was listed as director.
The company printed photos onto personalised items for both businesses and individual customers. It produced them in large quantities.
He was the sole director of the company when he applied to a separate bank for the second Bounce Back Loan in July 2020.
In interviews, Jobanputra said his company was badly affected by the pandemic. He said he did not read the loan agreement which clearly stated that businesses were only entitled to a single Bounce Back Loan, the Insolvency Service said.
Genesis Web Limited went into liquidation in October 2021. It was dissolved in March 2024.
The Bounce Back loan scheme was launched during the Covid lockdown period by the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak. It helped small and medium-sized businesses borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 at a low interest rate. The loans were guaranteed by the British government.
These loans were made on the condition that they were used to purchase a company asset. This would provide a benefit to the business.
The money lent to the company under the now-dissolved scheme had to be paid back over six or 10 years. Payments started 12 months after the company received the loan.
If the money borrowed by a company was not repaid, the firm's directors faced an investigation by the Insolvency Service. Directors also faced investigation if the company was involved in wrongdoing.
(PTI)
