[UK] Payroll worker accused of £7m COVID furlough fraud to 'enrich himself'

In the UK, a court has heard that a Birmingham-based payroll worker defrauded the government out of nearly £7 million in COVID-19 furlough payments, BirminghamLive reports.

It was alleged that Andrew Cleary (60), from Worcester 'saw an opportunity' during the first lockdown that followed the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

A jury was reportedly told that the supervisor at Back Office Extra, in Birmingham city centre, made over 4,000 furlough claims for people who were not entitled to them, with the 'technical assistance' of Sanketkumar Shah (38) from Portsmouth; a consultant at IT firms based in India. 

Both men went on trial at Birmingham Crown Court on on October 7. They each deny a charge of cheating the public revenue.

In his opening, case prosecutor Julian Christopher KC said, "This case takes us back to the first half of 2020, to the first lockdown. In particular to what was known as the furlough scheme under which the government paid 80 per cent of wages of employees who were unable to work because of lockdown, to ensure the result wasn't that they lost their jobs.

"It was a desperate measure for desperate times and inevitably, perhaps, some people saw it as an opportunity for fraud and the prosecution allege in this case that the first defendant, Mr Cleary, was one such person, on a grand scale. In the space of about seven weeks with the technical assistance of Mr Shah, he obtained just under £7 million from HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) in furlough payments.

"From email correspondence which we will be looking at between Mr Cleary and Mr Shah, the prosecution suggest you can see the hope was they would obtain many millions of pounds more than the £7 million actually paid."

Source: BirminghamLive

(Quotes via original reporting)

In the UK, a court has heard that a Birmingham-based payroll worker defrauded the government out of nearly £7 million in COVID-19 furlough payments, BirminghamLive reports.

It was alleged that Andrew Cleary (60), from Worcester 'saw an opportunity' during the first lockdown that followed the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

A jury was reportedly told that the supervisor at Back Office Extra, in Birmingham city centre, made over 4,000 furlough claims for people who were not entitled to them, with the 'technical assistance' of Sanketkumar Shah (38) from Portsmouth; a consultant at IT firms based in India. 

Both men went on trial at Birmingham Crown Court on on October 7. They each deny a charge of cheating the public revenue.

In his opening, case prosecutor Julian Christopher KC said, "This case takes us back to the first half of 2020, to the first lockdown. In particular to what was known as the furlough scheme under which the government paid 80 per cent of wages of employees who were unable to work because of lockdown, to ensure the result wasn't that they lost their jobs.

"It was a desperate measure for desperate times and inevitably, perhaps, some people saw it as an opportunity for fraud and the prosecution allege in this case that the first defendant, Mr Cleary, was one such person, on a grand scale. In the space of about seven weeks with the technical assistance of Mr Shah, he obtained just under £7 million from HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) in furlough payments.

"From email correspondence which we will be looking at between Mr Cleary and Mr Shah, the prosecution suggest you can see the hope was they would obtain many millions of pounds more than the £7 million actually paid."

Source: BirminghamLive

(Quotes via original reporting)