Restaurant boss stole nearly £20,000 Covid loans is spared jail

Restaurant boss who stole nearly £20,000 in Covid loans is spared jail after claiming he was tempted by council letters inviting him to apply for taxpayer cash

• Abbas Sharief pocketed a Small Business Grant and a Local Restrictions Grant
• Father of seven was caught after new owners of former restaurant also applied
• He ‘succumbed to temptation’ after Manchester council advised applying

A restaurant boss who stole almost £20,000 in taxpayer funded Covid grants during the pandemic has been spared jail after claiming he was ‘tempted’ by local Government letters inviting him to apply for the cash.

Father-of-seven Abbas Sharief, 60, illegally pocketed a Small Business Grant and a Local Restrictions Grant under the Job Retention scheme after fraudulently claiming he needed bailout money for his former restaurant in Manchester.

Investigations only began after Sharief, who used to run the Al-Khaf restaurant in Longsight, Manchester, tried to apply for a third bailout of public money called the Restart Grant worth £8,000 from Manchester city council.

Officials became suspicious when they discovered the current proprietors of the Arabic and Middle Eastern themed restaurant had also applied for the same handout.

It emerged Sharief from Withington, Manchester, had already legitimately secured a fourth Covid grant worth £25,000 from Wigan council relating to another business.

Father-of seven-Abbas Sharief, 60, illegally pocketed a Small Business Grant and a Local Restrictions Grant under the Job Retention scheme after fraudulently claiming he needed bailout money for his former restaurant in Manchester

At Wigan magistrates court Sharief, a former Kurdish refugee who fled Saddam Hussain’s Iraq, faced jail after he admitted fraud by false representation in April 2020, January 2021, and April 2021.

But he was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months after claiming he had ‘succumbed to temptation’ due to Manchester City Council’s advice for him to apply for the money. He has since repaid £19,669.

In mitigation defence lawyer Gwyn Lewis said Sharief said: ‘Initially, a letter which came for the council suggested to him that was entitled to make a claim. 

‘The reality is that he was not entitled but the temptation was placed in front of him and when faced with the temptation he took it.

‘His greatest amount of shame is that came to this country as an asylum seeker, way back in 1992 following the Gulf War.

‘He is not someone who has been idle and claiming benefits, he attended a course here and worked as a printer here until an accident caused him to injure his left hand and that led to him opening a restaurant.

‘The offences were committed at a time when his life was traumatic. Not just because of the pandemic but his marriage came to an end. 

‘He had been married for 37 years, arguments eventually came to a head and they parted company and eventually all his premises had to close.

Officials became suspicious when they discovered the current proprietors of the Arabic and Middle Eastern themed restaurant had also applied for the same handout

‘He found himself in a situation where he was beholden to his children and as a proud man not used to having done so before. 

‘He has felt an even greater degree of shame in having to turn to his sons saying, ‘Can you help me pay this back to the council?’ which was done and quickly.

‘All of his children are pharmacists, except for one, who is a chartered accountant. They have all done well and are a credit to him. 

‘Even from the first letter he was not entitled to it, he should not have taken the money and he has done nothing but plead guilty to all matters. He is very sorry for the fact that he was involved in this.’

Then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 2020 Local Restrictions Support Grants allowed eligible businesses forced to close during the pandemic to receive as much as £1,500 a fortnight.

An eye-watering £1.1billion is thought to have been lost to fraud and error in Covid business grant schemes – of which only one per cent has been recovered.

Takeaways, like Sharief’s, were not eligible to apply because they could remain open.

But Lewis said the businessman had previously run a sit-down restaurant at the Stockport Road site and he was caught because the authority had received two applications for a grant for the same address. 

An eye-watering £1.1billion is thought to have been lost to fraud and error in Covid business grant schemes – of which only one per cent has been recovered

He was also ordered to abide by a 12-week 7pm to 7am curfew and made to pay £1,000 in council costs and a £128 victim surcharge.

Magistrates agreed to delay the imposition of the curfew until April 23 because it is Ramadan and in observance of his religion Sharief attends prayers at his local mosque following the breaking of the fast in the evenings.

Jonathan Bell, prosecuting for Manchester City Council, said: ‘The Local Restrictions Grant’s purpose was to provide additional financial support to businesses that were forced to close due to the Covid regulations at the time.

‘Restaurants could have applied for the LRG but takeaways could not as takeaways were permitted to remain open, whilst sitting restaurants were not. 

‘When Al Khaf was in occupation it was also a take-away and for that reason, the grant should not have been paid but the defendant received £9,669.12.

‘The investigating officer initially suspected that the Al Khaf was not a restaurant but was in fact a takeaway and as part of the investigation the officer became aware that the defendant was not in occupation at the property and so should not have been given the small business grant.

‘The council sent an invoice for £19,669 to the defendant and he paid it but was then invited for interview under caution. 

‘His wife, rather than his lawyers, indicated that his mental health was not capable and he said he did not have capacity to attend the interview. The council have asked for medical evidence but none was provided.

‘This is not a case of a small business acting out of desperation. 

‘Officers also learnt that the defendant received £25,000 in a Covid retail, hospitality and leisure grant from Wigan Council. 

‘We do not suggest that there is anything wrong with that grant. However, it does bear mentioning that the defendant was in receipt of at least £25,000 albeit from another local authority.’

Chairwoman Joan Cooper added: ‘This are serious offences and we consider them to have crossed the custody threshold.

‘You have clearly committed these offences when the opportunity has presented itself to you to obtain money illegally from the council. It’s a large amount of money and that is your reason for that.

‘However, you are a man of good character, the money has been repaid and it’s obvious there is remorse on your behalf.’

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