Sussex cafe owner took £150,000 in Covid funds for dormant companies
He also attempted to strike-off one of the companies to avoid repaying the loan
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Mehmet Akyuz fraudulently applied for three Bounce Back Loans for his organic food shop and cafe and leather import business
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Akyuz secured £150,000 in funds when both companies were dormant and not trading
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He was sentenced for fraud by false representation following Insolvency Service investigations
A Sussex cafe owner who took £150,000 in Covid support funds for two companies which were not trading at the start of the pandemic has been sentenced.
Mehmet Akyuz, 36, fraudulently obtained three maximum-value Bounce Back Loans worth £50,000 each in 2020 for his Green and Hove Limited and Leathers Wear Limited companies.
Both Green and Hove, trading as Organic Earth Cafe, and Leathers Wear, were dormant at the time of Akyuz’s applications.
Akyuz, of Conway Street, Brighton and Hove, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Hove Crown Court on Monday 14 April.
He was also disqualified as a company director for five years and ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Mehmet Akyuz’s actions in fraudulently applying for three Bounce Back Loans he was not entitled to were completely unacceptable.
This was taxpayers’ money designed to support small businesses through the pandemic and should not have been exploited in such a cynical manner.
The Insolvency Service remains committed to investigating these cases and bringing fraudsters such as Akyuz to justice.
Green and Hove and Leathers Wear were incorporated in February and March 2019 with Akyuz as the sole director. The former was a retail food and grocery store with a cafe attached while the latter was described by Akyuz as an importer of leather goods such as bags and belts.
However, neither was trading at the time Akyuz made the fraudulent applications to the banks in the summer and autumn of 2020.
Akyuz fraudulently applied for the £50,000 loan on behalf of Green and Hove in August 2020, claiming the company’s turnover was £270,000.
This declaration was untrue, as Insolvency Service investigations found that the company filed dormant accounts in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Between September 2020 and January 2021, more than £36,000 of the loan was transferred directly to Akyuz. The remainder of the money was paid out in miscellaneous, one-off payments.
Akyuz committed further fraudulent offences in October 2020, when he applied to two separate banks for £50,000 Bounce Back Loans on behalf of Leathers Wear.
In the applications, Akyuz falsely declared that the company had a turnover of £215,000 and £225,000.
However, Leathers Wear also filed dormant accounts in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and was not trading when the application was made.
The funds were again transferred into Akyuz’s personal account and not used for business purposes.
Akyuz unsuccessfully applied to have Leathers Wear struck-off the Companies House register in June 2022 in an attempt to avoid repaying the loan.
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Further information
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Mehmet Akyuz is of Conway Street, Brighton and Hove. His date of birth is 1 February 1989
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Green and Hove Limited (company number 11803029)
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Leathers Wear Limited (company number 11910117)