Here is the story of another Company Director who chanced his arm and did manage to blag two Bounce Back Loans, one from Barclays and the other from HSBC, ending up in him getting a 10 year ban when it all came to light.
Mr Joshua Lowes (“Mr Lowes”) whilst acting as a director, caused Inter@active Limited (“Inter@ctive”) to apply for two government-backed Bounce Back Loans (“BBL”) of £50,000 each (totalling £100,000) when he knew or ought to have known that Inter@ctive was only eligible for one BBL under the terms of the BBL Scheme.
In that:
- Under the BBL scheme businesses were able to apply for up to 25% of their turnover to a maximum of £50,000.
- Businesses which originally borrowed less than the maximum amount available to them under the Scheme were eligible to top-up their original loan, however the total loan amount was not to exceed 25% of the business’s turnover. Only one loan was available to businesses.
- On 4 May 2020, Mr Lowes, on behalf of Inter@ctive, completed a BBL application with Bank 1.
- The loan application stated that Inter@ctive’s turnover for 2019 was £375,000 and was electronically signed in the name of Mr Lowes’ co-director.
- On 12 May 2020, funds of £50,000 were credited to Inter@ctive’s bank account held with Bank 1.
- On 4 May 2020, Mr Lowes, on behalf of Inter@ctive, completed a second BBL application with Bank 2.
- The loan application stated that Inter@ctive’s turnover for 2019 was £467,569 and was electronically signed in the name of Mr Lowes’ co-director. Mr Lowes confirmed in the BBL application with BANK 2 that this was Inter@ctive’s only BBL application.
- On 14 May 2020, funds of £50,000 were credited to Inter@ctive’s bank account held with Bank 2, which the company was not entitled to.
- Obtaining two BBL’s was contrary to the conditions of the BBL scheme. Mr Lowes has stated that both applications were made by him.
At the date of the Liquidation on 25 February 2022, a total of £273,461 was owed to creditors, which consisted of:
- Employees’ Claims (Holiday Pay) – £40
- HMRC (PAYE & VAT) – £73,485
- Banks – £127,843
- Employees’ Claims (Redundancy Pay & PiLoN) – £3,372
- HMRC (Corporation Tax) – £62,910
- Trade Creditors – £5,563
- Utility Creditors – £247
