A company director who made fraudulent applications for Covid19 business support grants has been convicted at Reading Crown Court. 

Khayre Abdulkadir Abdala of Bath Road, Slough, aged 45, sole Director of Akhayson Air Services Ltd, was convicted on 18 March following a trial at Reading Crown Court of 13 offences relating to eight fraudulent applications for Covid19 business support grants he made to Slough Borough Council. 

These included eight offences of fraud by false representation committed between August 2020 and January 2022. The remaining five offences were for possessing articles for use in fraud, including a false tenancy agreement and several fake invoices, which Abdala produced to Slough Borough Council to support his fraudulent applications.   

The first two fraudulent grant applications made by Abdala were successful, resulting in a loss to Slough Borough Council of £11,334. He then went on to make further applications, all of which were refused, however had they been successful, he would have gained a further £13,096 at least.  

At Abdala’s sentencing on 16 May, Judge Campbell found that the offending demonstrated significant planning by Abdala, over a sustained period, at a time when Slough Borough Council was vulnerable due to pressure to process grants of this nature as quickly as possible, to help local businesses and Abdala had taken advantage of this, knowing that the applications were unlikely to receive the same level of scrutiny they would otherwise have received under normal circumstances.  

Abdala was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, 300 hours of unpaid work, 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days and an electronically monitored curfew of three months between 8pm and 6am. Due to his limited financial means, Abdala was also ordered to pay £1,200 in compensation at £100 per month.

Councillor Wal Chahal, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member responsible for finance, council assets, procurement, and revenue and benefits, said: “Khayre Abdulkadir Abdala took advantage of a global pandemic, using the opportunity to commit fraud on multiple occasions. Thanks to the corporate fraud team at the council this was uncovered and led to a successful prosecution.
 

“The time the teams spent processing Abdala’s fraudulent claims could have been spent helping residents who were deserving of the funds. I hope the sentence received and fines imposed serve as a deterrent to anyone planning on defrauding us in the future.”