'Cynical fraudster' used Covid funds to buy new house

A FRAUDSTER who bought a house with money, which was meant to help his business through the Covid pandemic, has been jailed.

- By ANDREW ROBINSON

Mohammed Rashidzadeh used funds from a Covid Bounce Back Loan. An investigator said the man had “cynically” used the money to buy the property in West Yorkshire instead of to support his business after the pandemic.

Rashidzadeh, who later moved to Bangor in Gwynedd, had appointed solicitors to help him buy a three-bedroom semidetached house in the Almondbury area of Huddersfield just two days after receiving the £50,000 loan in June 2020.

The 34-year-old also attempted to strike his Cozy Bed Ltd company off the Companies House register without informing the bank who had lent him the Bounce Back Loan.

Rashidzadeh, formerly of Almondbury, Huddersfield, now of Caellepa, Bangor, was found guilty of offences under the Fraud Act and Companies Act following a four-day trial at Leeds Crown Court earlier this year. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday.