'Disgraceful' Greggs swindler who conned £710,000 from Leeds City Council jailed

Aftab Baig attempted to claim Covid loans - set up to help out businesses during lockdown - by pretending to be the property manager of Greggs for 32 branches and arranging for money to be deposited into his account.

Ther 47-year-old, of Paisley Road, Glasgow, was part of a gang that hit at the height of the pandemic while small businesses struggled to stay afloat.

He was found guilty of three counts of fraud after a six-day trial at Leeds Crown Court in February and sentenced this afternoon. He has no previous convictions.

The judge, the Recorder of Leeds Guy Kearl KC, jailed him for four years.

He said: “It was a sophisticated fraud. You were not acting alone. You were part of a group who sought to benefit from defrauding the government at a time of national crisis.

“You role was an important one. You deliberately targeted Leeds City Council knowing there would be a less likelihood of your fraudulent activity being scrutinised and detected.

“This was a disgraceful attempt to deprive the government of monies in short supply in a time of extreme anxiety and crisis.

“There must be a deterrence element to the sentence because the sentence must reflect not only the amount of money which was extracted, but also that this was done at a time of a national emergency.”

The money came from the Small Business Grant Fund, one of several schemes set up by the Government to help small businesses with business rates relief.

Baig was the sole director of a takeaway company called AUE Catering Ltd.

Baig, who had no links to Greggs and was not employed by them, used the details to apply for rates relief to the tune of £710,000 which was paid into a bank account associated with his own catering business.

In May 2020, with the council having realised the claims were fraudulent just days later, action was taken which resulted in the account being frozen. However, he had moved £95,000 to two other accounts by that stage.

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While most of the money was later returned to the council, more than £90,000 was left outstanding.

He continued to not only deny wrongdoing, he tried to get the freezing order lifted.

The investigation was led by the National Investigation Service (NATIS) and Baig was arrested in Glasgow, where he lives, on July 8 2020 by Police Scotland officers.

At Baig’s home, £16,000 in cash was found, as well as forged remittance slips which officers believed that he was planning to use to try and persuade the bank to return the frozen money.