Business owners suspected of committing fraud during the Covid pandemic are being urged to pay what they owe by December.

Those who fail to do so could face a specialist “hit squad”, which may issue fines of up to 100 per cent of the money obtained under false pretences.

Once the voluntary disclosure repayment scheme closes, anyone suspected of fraudulent activity and has received letters from the Government advising them of the deadline will be targeted.

The cost to taxpayers of Covid fraud is eyewatering – recently estimated at around £20 billion – and made up of government-guaranteed loans that were fraudulently obtained and never repaid.

Official estimates from last year showed the loss to be around £10.45 billion. However, new analysis of public data suggests that if all defaulted business loans are taken into account, the figure could be closer to £20 billion, or even higher.

Commenting on the voluntary repayment scheme, a Labour spokesperson said that time is running out for people who owe money to the public purse, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves telling the recent Labour Party conference “we want our money back”.

As James Hardy, Forensics Director at Milsted Langdon explains, the Insolvency Service is still investigating business owners who they believe exploited schemes such as the Bounce Back Loan scheme, so business owners who have received letters from the Government must take them seriously.

If they feel they have been wrongly targeted, they should engage a professional firm to help them prove they did nothing wrong.

He adds, “Given the scale of the losses, it’s no surprise that the authorities are now moving to recover as much as possible. However, the process can be complex, particularly where record-keeping was patchy or decisions were made under pressure during the pandemic.

“A forensic review of the accounts and loan documentation can help establish how funds were actually used and whether they complied with the scheme’s terms. Reconstructing the flow of transactions in this way often reveals whether any discrepancies stem from genuine error or deliberate misrepresentation.”

Sources: Yahoo, the i Paper