Stephen Burke, 63, from Rotherham, has been disqualified as a director for 11 years after he took £200,000 of taxpayers’ money through the Bounce Back Loan scheme that his companies were not entitled to.
Burke was director of four companies that provided services to construction projects: Woodhouse Civil Engineering Ltd, Yorkshire Plant Hire & Sales Ltd, Yorkshire Site Preparation Ltd and Richmond Brokers Ltd.
One of the four companies, Yorkshire Site Preparation, was listed as dormant with Companies House by January 2020. Of the other three, their company accounts ending January 2020 indicated turnover ranging from just £635 to £3,400.
Despite this, Burke, who was sole director of each company by 2020, stated on the application forms that turnover was between £200,000 and £320,000 for each company. This allowed him to secure four Bounce Back Loans for the full £50,000 per company permitted under the scheme.
He spent £174,000 repaying a personal loan to his former partner, which was also a breach of the loans’ conditions as they could only be spent on legitimate business expenditure.
In February 2021, Burke sought to dissolve all four companies. This was blocked by the Insolvency Service due to the outstanding loans being identified; instead the companies were placed in liquidation and the official liquidator has begun recovery action.
The secretary of state for business accepted a disqualification undertaking from Stephen John Burke, after he admitted obtaining £200,000 in government Bounce Back Loans by overstating company turnover, then using the funds obtained to repay a personal loan and not for the economic benefit of the company.
His ban is effective from 4th August 2022 and lasts for 11 years.
The disqualification prevents him from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
Insolvency Service chief investigator Rob Clarke said: “Coronavirus support schemes were introduced to help British businesses through the most testing of times, providing them with the financial support to protect jobs and return to prosperity. Stephen Burke not only sought to defraud the Bounce Back Loan scheme for personal gain, but then sought to cover his tracks by dissolving the companies he’d used. This abhorrent conduct has rightly resulted in a lengthy ban, removing his ability to trade with the benefit of limited liability until 2033.”
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