Indian-origin printing firm boss convicted of COVID loan fraud in U.K.

The Indian-origin boss of a London printing firm has been found guilty of illegally taking out a second loan for his company at a time when businesses were only entitled to one loan under the UK government’s COVID-19 Bounce Back Loan programme.

In the statement made by the United Kingdom Insolvency Service, it was stated that 41-year-old Prashant Jobanputra was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and suspended for 18 months at the Old Bailey court in London on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.

He was also disqualified as a company director for three years and fined £5,000.

“Prashant Jobanputra fraudulently applied for two Bounce Back Loans when the rules were clear – businesses were only allowed one,” said David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service.

“We will carry out further investigations to recover any remaining funds. Tackling the abuse of the COVID support scheme remains a key priority for the Insolvency Service and we will continue to pursue and prosecute fraudsters who steal from the public purse during a national emergency,” he said.

According to investigators, Mr Jobanputra applied for two £50,000 Bounce Back Loans for his printing business, Genesis Web Limited, over a five-day period in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the second application he is said to have “fraudulently represented” that this was the only Bounce Back Loan he had applied for.

It has since repaid £15,371 of the second loan in November 2025; The remaining £35,000 is being pursued by the Insolvency Service under the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Genesis Web Limited was registered with the UK Companies House in November 2004 and Mr Jobanputra was logged on as a director.

The company printed photos on personalized items for both businesses and individual customers and produced them in large quantities.

When he applied to a separate bank for his second Bounce Back Loan in July 2020, it was learned that he was the sole director of the company.

The Insolvency Service has said in interviews that Mr Jobanputra’s company was badly hit by the pandemic and that he had not read the loan agreement, which clearly stated that businesses were only eligible for a single Bounce Back Loan.

Genesis Web Limited went into liquidation in October 2021 and was dissolved in March 2024.

The Bounce Back loan scheme was launched by then UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak during the COVID lockdown period to help small and medium-sized businesses borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 at a low interest rate guaranteed by the British government.

These loans are given on the condition that they are used to purchase a company asset that will provide economic benefit to the business.

Under the now-defunct plan, the loan to the company had to be repaid within six or 10 years, with payments starting 12 months after the company received the loan.

If money borrowed by a company was not repaid or was involved in abuse, the firm’s directors faced the possibility of an investigation by the Insolvency Service.