London builder disqualified for abusing Covid loan scheme

A builder has been disqualified as a company director for 10 years after he falsely claimed a loan under the Covid Bounce Back scheme.

Marcel Ion, 39, from Bromley in south-east London, claimed his company's turnover was more than double what it actually was and put £35,000 from the loan into his personal bank account.

Mr Ion was the sole director of Mavion Group Ltd, registered in Dagenham.

It is the latest in a series of London cases involving the government scheme.

Under the rules of the Bounce Back scheme, companies could apply for a loan of between £2,000 and £50,000 - with any money lent having to be used for the economic benefit of the company.

In June 2020, Mr Ion applied for a £50,000 loan on his company's behalf, stating it had a turnover of £205,410.

Investigators later found the company had made sales of about £83,000 between January and December 2019.

They also discovered five days after the £50,000 loan entered the company's bank account in July 2020, Mr Ion began moving money into his personal bank account.

More than £35,000 was transferred to his personal account by the end of April 2021, and investigators found no evidence the payments were for the economic benefit of the company.

Mavion Group Ltd went into liquidation in August 2022, owing more than £180,000 including the full amount of the loan - triggering an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

'Blatantly took advantage'

According to the Insolvency Service, during the 2023-24 financial year 831 directors were banned for Covid financial support scheme misconduct, with an average disqualification length of more than nine and a half years.

Although specific figures are not available for the capital, BBC London has found details of at least seven successful civil and criminal prosecutions since September 2023 for misconduct under the scheme.

Lawrence Zussman, deputy head of company investigations at the Insolvency Service, said Mr Ion "blatantly took advantage of a government scheme to support businesses when they were facing huge challenges posed by the pandemic".

"His lengthy ban shows the Insolvency Service will pursue those who seek to abuse taxpayers' money and remove them from the business arena," he added.

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