As the FT has reported:
Tens of thousands of loans were given to potential fraudsters applying to multiple banks under the government-backed Covid bounce back loan scheme, according to banking executives speaking in front of an influential committee of MPs.
They went on to note that:
Thousands more were handed out by banks to companies that were created after the pandemic had started, or to companies that had already been dissolved, revealing the high levels of fraud in relation to the scheme
Barclays were the biggest lender under the scheme. It has admitted making 1,500 duplicate loans. HSBC has admitted to lending to already dissolved companies.
It's easy to blame the government on this issue. But let's blame the banks too.
And let's also remember, that if only we had enjoyed a decent company register in the UK most if not all of these billions would have been saved. I have campaigned for this for years.
But there is still no plan to deliver that, for which reason the government is entirely liable for this. Those continually responsible for this should be barred from office for good.
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Would it be going too far to suggest that what was once thought of as ‘white collar crime’ is now just the usual way of doing business in this country?
It seems that an open season of ripping off the Government has existed and declared for some time. This Government is all about the wealthy looking after the wealthy after all. If only more people could see that.
As this behaviour is all about the Neo-liberal goal of making money – what do we expect? Making money is the goal of economic activity – sod anything else, morality, principles, fairness.
It’s Neo-lib nirvana that we exist in currently.
Agreed
While I agree that there should have been a register allowing all these loans to be checked at the time, I still don’t see why the fraudulent payments aren’t being pursued.
It has been said that these loans were made without the basic checks that would be done on you and I if we asked for a loan (e.g. mortgage requirements) but I assume they weren’t paid in used £10 notes. The cash will have been transferred to bank accounts for which the checks should be on the record, allowing those making the fraudulent requests to be identified and either charged with criminal activity or at least forced to return the money.
Or am I just being naive, as I so often am when it comes to finance?
The funds will have moved on very quickly through many layers of opacity and there are few rights to trace it
What we do not do is simply say limited liability is lifted in the case of fraud, which is absurd
Yes the money won’t be sitting in those accounts any more – but wouldn’t it be possible to identify the owners/signatories of the bank accounts and pursue them for recovery?
It is an interesting idea for limited liability to be restricted to legal transactions, with company liability becoming unlimited for fraud/bribery/tax evasion. It would concentrate a few minds.
Tracing is incredibly hard – banking really does not like it
Obviously tracing where the money is now would be hard.
But banks clearly have the information to chase customers who default on overdrafts. Is there no reason they can’t give that to the police if there is a criminal investigation of fraud? Anyone who fraudulently applied for loans would have had to had control over those bank accounts.
Is anyone involving the police?
Aren’t they protecting oligarch’s homes?