BBL Repaid In Full

The Insolvency Service has secured the repayment in full of a Bounce Back Loan, they have announced this week.

Our well-trodden tale begins in June 2020 when Sameer Saeed, director of Digital Business Box Limited applied for a bounce back loan (“BBL”) of £50,000.  The application for the company founded in April 2019 contained exaggerated turnover of £200,000 when in reality it was closer to £60,000.  The funds were then spent on repaying personal debts, supporting his family, £19,000 on car repairs (either an old banger or one wheel for a luxury car, you decide) and a second hand BMW.  Finally, as sole director, Mr Saeed applied to dissolve the company twelve days after receiving the BBL funds.

Our attention then turns to another company where Mr Saeed was the sole director, The Home Wills Limited.  This company was incorporated in March 2020 and had never traded.  This time, perhaps unusually, the application in July 2020 for another BBL at the maximum of £50,000 was declined by the bank.

Saeed was handed a 20 month prison sentence (suspended for 18 months) and (somehow only) 3 year director ban in December 2022 after admitting fraudulently securing the BBL and unsuccessfully applying for another.?  In addition, he was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and make a £2,000 contribution to the prosecution costs incurred by the Insolvency Service.?

Confiscation proceedings brought by the Insolvency Service led to Saeed first selling the BMW he bought and subsequently his flat.  ?The sale of his property was finalised in late October 2024, with an additional payment of just over £850 made by Saeed to complete the repayment of his £50,000 loan in full.?

Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said:?”Sameer Saeed cynically accessed emergency Covid support scheme funds by overstating his turnover and then applied to have his company struck off in the same month.??His actions were premeditated, and he never planned to use the money for the economic benefit of his business.? Since his conviction, investigators at the Insolvency Service have worked hard to identify his assets and recover the money he fraudulently obtained. This has been a long process but demonstrates our commitment and determination to recover money lost to the public purse”