The inside story of Britain’s biggest Bounce Back Loan fraud - £10m stolen by one criminal gang.
By Angus Crawford, Tony Smith & Sarah BellThe final three members of a money laundering gang which also stole £10m of UK taxpayers' money after taking advantage of a covid loan scheme, have been sentenced.
In fact, the gang's £10m is only a drop in the ocean. The National Audit Office estimates the taxpayer could lose billions of pounds in Bounce Back Loan fraud. As the world locked down, criminals were hit just like legitimate businesses. The pair realised they had to diversify, targeting the UK Government Bounce Back Loans emergency scheme which saw more than 1.5 million loans worth nearly £47bn approved.
The last of three trials concluded on Friday at Kingston Crown Court, with the final three defendants receiving suspended sentences. It means reporting restrictions can now be lifted.We found details of two of the companies' directors by scouring social media accounts Just over £10m was paid into and out of the accounts of Bart Solution Ltd during 2020. The prosecution told the court most of this money came from Bounce Back Loans.
We enlisted the help of BBC colleagues based in Vilnius, but a scan of local telephone and government online directories came up blank, with neither director listed.Mr Barkevicius stopped posting on social media in 2021, but his final posts show he worked at an expensive restaurant just outside the capital.
It showed that in the summer of 2022, he cycled from the same location every morning and returned each evening. We followed this trail back through the city to a Soviet-era block of hundreds of apartments - but which one was his? We introduced ourselves and asked if he knew where the money in the bogus company he was linked to had gone. He seemed genuinely shocked to see us and confused by our question. He insisted he had no idea he had been a named director for Bart Solution Ltd.
We rang a clothes shop in Vilnius which she used to model for, to see if we could book her for an assignment. But the owner was suspicious and wouldn't help. We traced the shop to an area of grimy tower blocks in the north of the city. We spent the next couple of days in the area trying to trace her. But it was only after a tip-off from a local BBC producer, that we spotted her walking down a street.
So, despite our efforts, we were no closer to knowing whether Mr Bartkevicius or Ms Kobrina knew anything about the fraud or what their names were being used for.The most recent government report estimated 8% of all Bounce Back Loans could be lost to fraud or error
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