A Bedfordshire construction contractor has been banned as company director and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs after submitting misleading information to obtain a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan.
Nick Addison, 50, overstated the turnover of his company Addison’s Quality Ltd, for which he was sole director of, to secure the Bounce Back Loan in May 2020.
He claimed the company’s turnover was £250,000 in 2019, for which a £50,000 Covid loan was into the Addison’s Quality account, the maximum amount businesses were entitled to.
Addison’s Quality’s turnover in 2019 was not even a quarter of the £250,000..
Within just four days, Addison transferred the majority of the funds to his personal bank account, with no evidence of using the money for his business.
Between May and September 2020, more than £48,000 was paid to Addison’s personal account.
He also failed to respond to requests for further information from the Insolvency Service during the course of its investigations.
The 50-year-old was handed the disqualification order at a hearing of the High Court in London on Tuesday 23 July.
Addison was banned as company director and ordered to pay costs of £5,158.
Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Nick Addison provided false information to the bank to secure taxpayer-backed money while the country was in lockdown during the first few months of the pandemic.
“Addison then displayed further contempt for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme by transferring funds out of his company’s account and into his own personal bank account.
“The 13-year disqualification order reflects the serious nature of this misconduct and means Addison cannot be involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company in the UK until 2037.”
Addison’s Quality ltd went into liquidation in March 2021.
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