The UK government confirmed that around $1.2 billion of concessional loans for small business made under a COVID-19 emergency lending scheme has already been classified as suspected fraud.
Reuters reports.
Since May 2020, UK banks have lent $54 billion in soft loans to small businesses affected by COVID-19 lockdown.
Experts have long raised concerns over a high risk of fraud as the government set up with few checks on borrowers in order to get cash out quickly.
The government’s current estimate for loans fraud is for a final total of $3.8 billion.
