Printweek - Suspended sentence for £50k Covid loan fraudster
The boss of a personalised photo products print business has received a suspended jail sentence and disqualification after fraudulently obtaining a second Bounce Back Loan of £50,000.
Prashant Jobanputra gained £100,000 in Covid loan support for his printing company, Genesis Web Limited, when companies were only allowed one loan, up to a maximum of £50,000, at the time.
The Insolvency Service report into his conduct found that in the summer of 2020 Jobanputra – who was the firm's sole director – applied for two £50,000 loans within a five-day period.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday (27 January) he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
He has also been disqualified as a director for three years and has been handed a £5,000 fine.
The Insolvency Service said that Jobanputra had repaid £15,371 of the fraudulent Bounce Back Loan in November 2025, “just weeks before he was initially due to be sentenced”.
However, the remaining £35,000 has not been paid back.
Insolvency Service chief investigator David Snasdell said Jobanputra had fraudulently applied for two Bounce Back Loans “when the rules were clear – businesses were only allowed one”.
Snasdell commented: “We will be conducting further investigations to recover the remaining funds. Tackling Covid support scheme abuse remains a key priority for the Insolvency Service and we will continue to track down and prosecute fraudsters who stole from the public purse during a national emergency.”
The Insolvency Service is seeking to recover the remaining fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
In interviews, Jobanputra said Genesis Web was badly affected by the pandemic and that he did not read the loan agreement which clearly stated that businesses were only entitled to a single Bounce Back Loan.
Genesis Web Limited (company number 05285493) went into liquidation in October 2021 and was dissolved in March 2024. Prior to its insolvency the firm’s registered office had been Unit N, Penfold Trading Estate, Imperial Way, Watford WD24 4YY.
The business was incorporated in 2004.
Genesis Web left an estimated deficiency of £812,848 including £49,147 owed to Barclays Bank for one of the Bounce Back Loans. It had produced personalised photo gifts for individual consumers and businesses “in large quantities” according to the Insolvency Service.
Prashant Jobanputra’s month of birth is September 1984 and his last known address was on Knoll Crescent in Northwood, Hillingdon.
Editor’s note: Genesis Web Limited can be distinguished from other businesses with similar names by using the company number and other facts detailed above.
