Arti Deda, 31, overstated the turnover of his Knight Workers Limited company to obtain maximum-value Bounce Back Loans worth £50,000 each from the bank in 2020, when companies were only entitled to one.

None of the £100,000 was used for the economic benefit of the business as was required under the terms of the scheme.

Deda, of Slough, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Reading Crown Court this week.

He was also disqualified as a company director for 10 years.

David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “This significant jail term and director disqualification reflects the seriousness of Covid-related fraud.

“Bounce Back Loans were designed to support small and medium-sized businesses through the pandemic. Taxpayers’ money should not have been used for personal purposes by company directors.”

Knight Workers was incorporated in December 2017 with Deda as its sole director.

The company claimed to be in the business of construction of domestic buildings.

But Insolvency Service investigators found minimal evidence of any trading in the construction industry.

Deda made the fraudulent applications to two separate banks for Bounce Back Loans for the company during the same week in July 2020, falsely declaring its annual turnover was both £390,000 and £495,000 for 2019.

He also claimed in securing the second Bounce Back Loan that this was his only application.

A total of £44,500 was transferred to an associate just days after Deda received the funds. A further £13,000 was later transferred to a third party and £20,000 was transferred from the account with the reference ‘material’.

Deda applied to have Knight Workers liquidated in November 2021 in an attempt to avoid having to repay the loan.

The company was eventually dissolved in April 2023, with Deda having made no repayments.

Deda also failed in his duties as a company director to provide accounting records to the liquidator on request.

The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.