Coronavirus business loans: some directors may have defrauded billions from UK taxpayers

In the early days of the pandemic, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak announced business-loan schemes as part of the government’s suite of measures to keep businesses on their feet. This offered businesses the chance to borrow tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds from participating banks, with relaxed lending criteria and nothing to pay for the first 12 months.

The schemes, which closed to new applicants on March 31 of this year, were part of the…

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