Grocer banned for abusing £50,000 government loan
Northwest London grocer disqualified for 10 years after he squandered £50,000 bounce bank loan instead of spending on his company.
Abbas Abo Kifayah (37), of Kingsbury, northwest London, was the sole director of Al-Amir Ltd. The company traded as a grocer and butchers from premises on Forty Avenue, Wembley, in northwest London.
The company, however, went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation in July 2021, which triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
Investigators uncovered that Abbas Kifayah successfully secured a £50,000 bounce back loan for Al-Amir Ltd in August 2020. However, Abbas Kifayah exaggerated the company’s turnover to secure a higher value loan than Al-Amir Ltd was entitled to.
Further enquiries found that once the £50,000 loan was placed into the company’s bank account, £43,200 was transferred into Abbas Kifayah’s personal account, while just over £3,000 was transferred to a third party and £2,250 was withdrawn in cash.
When Abbas Kifayah was questioned about these transactions, he stated that £12,000 was used to pay his salary and the remainder for his backdated salary and personal use. However, investigators could not find any evidence that any of the money was used for the benefit of the company.
On 30 June 2022, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a 10-year disqualification undertaking from Abbas Kifayah after he did not dispute that he obtained a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan which the company was not entitled and failed to use the funds received for the economic benefit of Al-Amir Ltd.
Effective from 21 July 2022, Abbas Kifayah is banned from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
Al-Amir Ltd’s Liquidator is considering the bounce back loans and recovery of funds.
Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Insolvent Investigations, said:
Bounce back loans were available to support viable businesses through the pandemic. Abbas Kifayah, however, abused the government’s support when he inflated his company’s turnover in order to receive the maximum loan before squandering the money rather than use it to benefit his business.
10 years is a significant amount of time to be removed from the corporate arena and Abbas Kifayah’s disqualification should serve as a clear warning that we will take decisive action to protect the public and the taxpayer”.
Notes to editors
Abbas Abo Kifayah is from Kingsbury, North-West London and his date of birth is November 1984.
Al-Amir Ltd (Company Reg no. 09398002).
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.
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