A woman blew £50,000 of her dementia-stricken father's savings which was supposed to pay his care home fees.
31.03.2023 - 15:37 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A former town councillor in Bradford has been jailed after making fraudulent claims of more than £430,000 through the Government’s Eat Out to Help out scheme.
Mohammed Ikram, 36, made 19 fraudulent claims under then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s initiative during a four-week period in August and September 2020.
Ikram, of Springfield Court, Keighley, was said to have seen the scheme as a way out of his financial difficulties after running up more than £75,000 in debts from running a Manchester care home.
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Bradford Crown Court heard Ikram, 36, made the 19 fake claims - totalling £434,073 - through the scheme for eight different food outlets. Two were food outlets he had some link with, but not a “current one”, the court heard.
The other six businesses were either “entirely fictitious” or legitimate companies he had no connection with, prosecutor Timothy Jacobs said.
Mr Jacobs told the court that eight of the 19 claims were paid by the Government, with just over £189,000 being paid into bank accounts held by Ikram’s wife. The other 11 claims were rejected.
More than half the money paid out to Ikram, who was a member of Keighley Town Council until his resignation in 2022, has since been recovered by HMRC but just under £93,000 is still outstanding, the court was told.
The Eat Out to Help Out initiative allowed restaurants, cafes, pubs and other food outlets to offer customers a 50% discount, up to £10, and obtain a reimbursement from HMRC for the same amount.
Mr Jacobs said Ikram registered with the scheme and used his own name and telephone number for each of his claims, with the IP address used later traced to his West Yorkshire home.
The court was told
A woman blew £50,000 of her dementia-stricken father's savings which was supposed to pay his care home fees.
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