Birmingham Covid fraud accountant Zeeshan Ashraf has been ordered to pay £307,690 after exploiting three pandemic support schemes, with a further prison term possible if he fails to comply.
Zeeshan Ashraf, 46, obtained £268,102 through fraudulent applications for Bounce Back Loans, furlough payments and Eat Out to Help Out funding between April 2020 and April 2021. He also attempted to obtain a further £52,733.
Birmingham Crown Court made the confiscation order on 13 October 2026, following his sentence of three years and eight months in February 2025. Ashraf had admitted five counts of fraud.
He has three months to pay. Failure to do so could result in an additional two-and-a-half years in prison, without cancelling his obligation to pay the outstanding amount.
Covid fraud accountant obtained three £50,000 loans
Ashraf used A-Z Certified Accountants Limited to obtain three separate £50,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020, despite businesses being entitled to only one loan under the scheme.
His applications presented a business with turnover of between £215,000 and £244,000. Its actual turnover was just £8,000.
Those inflated figures enabled him to obtain the maximum loan from each of the three banks. Although the applications stated that the borrowing would support the business, the £150,000 was instead used for personal spending, property investments and repaying personal loans.
False claims extended to furlough and hospitality support
The fraud went beyond borrowing in the accountancy company’s name.
Ashraf obtained £91,174 through false or unauthorised Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme applications made on behalf of business clients. Further applications seeking £38,082 were unsuccessful.
He also obtained £26,928 through Eat Out to Help Out claims submitted for hospitality businesses that either did not exist or were not operating as restaurants. Another £14,651 in attempted claims was unsuccessful.
Together, the offences involved repeated applications across three different support programmes over approximately a year.
Why the Covid fraud accountant must pay £307,690
The £307,690 confiscation order against the Covid fraud accountant includes an adjustment reflecting changes in the value of money since the offences.
The Insolvency Service says the calculation also takes account of approximately £33,000 Ashraf had already repaid towards the Bounce Back Loans. Without those repayments, the order would have been higher.
HMRC and the Insolvency Service jointly conducted the confiscation proceedings, with the Crown Prosecution Service prosecuting the case.
The order is a further enforcement step following the conviction. Whether the full amount is paid remains to be seen.
NPD comment
Yet again, Billy Bunter was given the keys to the tuck shop — and boy, did he pig out.
A central register recording each COVID loan as it was granted, checked by lenders before approving another application, could have prevented the repeated borrowing exposed in this case and so many others.
How was the same business able to obtain three maximum-value loans from three separate banks when it was entitled to only one?
Due diligence is essential when deciding who to do business with. Company credit reports, director checks and shared payment intelligence can help identify adverse information and links to other businesses before you extend credit. Continued monitoring matters too, as circumstances can change after the initial checks.
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