A company in Oldham has been named and shamed by the Government as being part of a network of 'fake companies' that fraudulently claimed a Covid loan and sent funds overseas.

As many as 11 companies have been liquidated by the Insolvency Service following an investigation that unearthed their involvement in "systematic fraud" against UK taxpayers during the pandemic.

Among the 11 organisations discovered in the sting, one company was registered in Oldham, though investigators could not identify trading premises for the business - nor if it had ever even traded.

Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox by signing up to The Oldham Times’ morning and evening newsletters as well as our breaking news alerts 

Rubeum Auri Limited was incorporated in March 2019 at Poplar Close, Oughtibridge, Sheffield, under the company director, Mrs Amanda Wilkinson.

Documents on Companies House show the business was categorised as 'non-specialised wholesale trade'.

The records then reveal Mrs Wilkinson resigned from her post in December 2019 and Mr Neil Mccaslin assumed the role.

Mr Mccaslin switched the trading address from Sheffield to its Oldham address - the Groundwork Building on Shaw Road - as of April 2021.

No other documents were filed by the company between April 2021 to May 2023 when it was liquidated by a court order.

The Insolvency Service was unable to identify if any of the 11 businesses genuinely existed and traded, and found between them they claimed £500,000 through the Covid Bounce Back Loan (BBL) scheme.

The BBL scheme was a government scheme designed to support genuine businesses impacted by the pandemic.

Legitimate businesses were able to take out interest-free, taxpayer-backed loans of up to £50,000, depending on eligibility.

The companies claimed to be registered at various offices in Berkshire, Lancashire, London and Shropshire.

Nine of the companies were found to have claimed the maximum £50,000 BBL - and one even claimed two loans.

The sting then found the companies shared a host of links between the various companies, including the use of common addresses, with funds being moved between them and ultimately transferred to entities registered in Hong Kong.

These companies were identified due to their links with five other companies which had previously been wound up in 2021 and 2022.

The other five had fraudulently claimed £250,000 between them in BBL's as well as £350,000 in Small Business Grants.

At a court hearing at the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts, Manchester, on May 22 this year, the Official Receiver liquidated the latest 11 companies and is now working to trace the funds and those responsible with a view to recover the money.

Dave Hope, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "We want to ensure the UK is a safe and fair place to trade, and if there is evidence sham companies are operating and involved in the systematic abuse of taxpayers’ money, we will take action to have them shut down.

"These rogue firms abused the government’s support for genuine businesses in their time of greatest need."

The full list of the 11 companies to face liquidation is as follows:

  • Laslett Industries Limited - Windsor, Berkshire
  • JP Capital Management Ltd (formerly called Hampton Brookers Limited) - Windsor, Berkshire
  • CMJA Limited - Slough
  • JK Distributions Limited - Wembley
  • Kubrick Trade Ltd - London
  • Lowe Brokers Limited - Whitchurch
  • Rubeum Auri Limited - Oldham
  • Share Apartment Limited - London
  • Stella Management Limited - Slough
  • Globexel Ltd - Slough
  • JLS Enterprises Limited - Lytham St Annes

The grounds for winding up the companies included, variously: being vehicles for the abuse of the BBL scheme; being a vehicle for the abuse of an invoice financing agreement; lack of transparency; failure to cooperate with the investigation; failure to maintain, preserve and/or deliver up adequate accounting records; failure to file statutory accounts and confirmation statements; facilitating fraudulent activity.

The news comes as a number of companies and directors in Oldham have been struck off and disqualified for exploiting the Covid BBL scheme.

In August last year, it emerged Daniel Roscoe from Failsworth, who was the director of Mechanical Inspection & Installation Services Ltd, applied for a BBL of £50,000 - £20,000 of which was used for his own personal benefit.

The Insolvency Service subsequently disqualified Roscoe as a company director for a period of 10 years.

Then in October of the same year, a director of a children's sports coaching company was banned for 11 years for exploiting the Covid scheme.

Shafiqur Rahman, the then director of Aspire Sports Coaching & Partners Limited in Oldham, applied for a BBL of £25,000.

However, the liquidator was unable to determine if £20,000 of the loan was for the economic benefit of the business - and a 'falsified' invoice was filed.

The Insolvency Service found a loan had been paid from Aspire's bank account to a third party with the payment reference 'car' on the bank statement.

Earlier this year, Majadur Rohim of Lincoln Street in Oldham, was also issued a ban of six years after it emerged he failed to ensure his Merseyside company "maintained and/or preserved adequate accounting records".

A chunk of the missing money had been obtained through a Bounce Back Loan on May 21, 2020.

In February, Rukia Begum, who was the company director of the takeaway, New Polash Indian Cuisine, on Drury Lane in Chadderton, was similarly banned for 10 years after she provided "misleading information to a bank" in order to obtain a BBL of £35,000.

Then, Hafiz Muhammed Rizwan, the director of BBQD takeaway on Union Street, was disqualified for a period of six years as of March this year.

The investigation uncovered a series of mysterious accounting records which included gaining funds from the BBL scheme.

Rizwan was unable to explain to the liquidator a series of funds amounting to £600,000.

If you have a story, I cover all things Oldham from food reviews and local business news to music and events, pubs, education, crime, property, health, community concerns and much more. Please email me at Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk or send me a message on Twitter @Livbridge with your news.