A man has been convicted after he posed as a Greggs manager to con Leeds City Council out of grants designed to help small businesses during the pandemic.
In May 2020, Aftab Baig, 47 from Glasgow, contacted the local authority and claimed he worked at Greggs’ head office in order to find out business rates numbers for 32 branches of the fast food chain.
Mr 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 catering business.
Leeds City Council said it was a ‘brazen and calculated act of fraud’.
Mr Baig was found guilty of three counts of fraud at Leeds Crown Court on 12 February.
Most of the money has been returned to the council but more than £90,000 was left outstanding.
A council spokesperson said: ‘This money was intended to support local businesses in Leeds at a time when they were facing unprecedented pressures and when the city and its communities were coming together to get through the pandemic.
‘For someone to take advantage of such challenging circumstances and defraud the public purse is shocking and we would like to thank all those involved in this investigation for helping to ensure justice has been served.’
