Mohammed Ikram's conviction is the first secured by the government for Covid scheme fraud.
A former councillor who tried to steal £434,000 through the government's Eat Out to Help Out scheme has been jailed.
The 36-year-old made 19 fake claims totalling £434,073 through the scheme for eight different food outlets most of which were "entirely fictitious", prosecutor Timothy Jacobs told Bradford Crown Court.Image source,The judge said Ikram had abused a scheme "designed to help businesses during a terribly difficult time"
Mr Jacobs said Ikram registered with the scheme and used his own name and telephone number for each of his claims, with the computer IP address used later traced to his home in Springfield Court, Keighley. He told the court Ikram was "a man of good character who has contributed much to the community in a very positive way" and the offending was "an aberration".Deputy Circuit Judge Timothy Clayson told him: "Even if I accept your assertion that some of this money was obtained with a view to covering financial obligations, given the sums involved it's apparent the vast majority of this was motivated by greed.
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