This week in Parliament, following an Urgent Question on the Government’s plan to bring forward an Economic Crime Bill, Richard Fuller MP asked the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) about the effectiveness of, and the force with which, existing legislation will be brought to bear on fraud within the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) during Covid. The full question and answer can be watched here.
Richard, a Member of the BEIS Select Committee, said:
The resignation of Lord Agnew earlier this week highlighted the enormous challenges the government faces in auditing the vast amounts of taxpayer support provided, in a very short period of time, to combat the effects of COVID.
From PPE to bounce back loans to local authority grants to the furlough scheme and via additional benefit payments, over £400bn was pushed out to support the economy. Like it or not, dishonesty and fraud will have taken place. It is crucial that the government acts forcefully to track down such fraud, prosecute the fraudsters, reclaim monies and limit the exposure of taxpayers.
As with the banking collapse, I place a high duty on leading banks to maintain the integrity of their privileged role. Most do an excellent job which makes it even more important to come down hard on those that do not: a point I made in the House of Commons this week.
