PRESS RELEASE : London taxi driver, Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, hit with 11-year sanctions after falsely claiming two covid loans [August 2024]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 22 August 2024.

Ilford taxi and delivery driver claimed £100,000 of Bounce Back Loans and failed to spend the money on his businesses.

• Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, of Ilford, overstated the turnover for two businesses to falsely claim a total of £100,000 from the covid loan scheme
• Ahmad claimed the maximum loan of £50,000 each for his taxi and delivery businesses
• He failed to use the money for the economic support of the businesses

A taxi driver from Ilford in East London must abide by 11 years of tough bankruptcy restrictions after falsely claiming two Bounce Back Loans totalling £100,000 during the covid pandemic.

Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, 47, from Meath Road in Ilford, applied for two separate Bounce Back Loans for his delivery business, Sanwal Deliveries and Distribution, and for his taxi company, both based in East London.

He became bankrupt in February 2024 and the official receiver, whose role includes investigating the cause of a bankruptcy, discovered that Ahmad had overstated the turnover of both businesses to claim more money than each was entitled to under the rules of the scheme.

Samantha Crook, Deputy Official Receiver at the Insolvency Service, said:

Hafiz Ahmad abused taxpayers’ money not once, but twice, taking out two separate loans based on false information, claiming more money than his businesses were entitled to receive.

These long-lasting restrictions will help to protect people from financial wrongdoing by limiting Ahmad’s access to credit and making others aware that there are sanctions against him.

The investigation found that Ahmad had claimed £50,000 for his delivery business in July 2020– the maximum allowed under the scheme. He applied for a second £50,000 loan – this time for his taxi business – in September 2020.

The official receiver also discovered that Ahmad had failed to use the loan money for the economic benefit of either of his trading businesses – a breach of the scheme’s conditions.

The rules of the Bounce Back Loan scheme allowed businesses to claim up to 25% of their 2019 turnover, with a maximum loan of £50,000. The money had to be used for the economic benefit of the business.

The official receiver secured an 11-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) from Ahmad, in which he did not dispute that he had obtained a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan for each of his businesses by overstating their levels of turnover and that he had not used the loans for the economic benefit of his trading businesses.

The undertaking extends his original bankruptcy restrictions from the standard 12 months until 19 August 2035.

Bankruptcy restrictions ban Ahmad from acting as a company director without the court’s permission and from borrowing more than £500 without declaring that he is subject to the restrictions. They also prevent him from holding certain roles in public organisations.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted the Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking from Hafiz Ahmad on 20 August 2024.

Further Information

• Hafiz Ahamd is of Meath Road, Ilford. His date of birth is June 1977.
• Further guidance about Bankruptcy Restrictions Orders and Undertakings
• Details of BRO and BRU restrictions relating to individuals can be found on the Individual Insolvency Register