Furlough Scheme Fraud
This is likely to be a huge area of prosecution going forward as the government will be looking carefully into claims under the furlough scheme and any fraudulent claims are likely to be rigorously prosecuted.
When a company or a person is accused of an offence where money is taken illegally, part of the criminal proceedings is an area of law called Proceeds of Crime, also known as POCA. This requires anyone convicted on such an offence to be ordered to repay the funds taken illegally and you can be ordered to serve a prison sentence in lieu of paying the money back.
Given the unprecedented cost of COVID-19 on the UK economy is it unthinkable that the government will not act aggressively in relation to the prosecution of such frauds and do everything in their power to recoup illegally obtained taxpayers money. This said the rules have been complex and have changed frequently so you could be arrested for such a fraud when your actions were a genuine error. Even more reason to seek our expert help to guide you the allegations and fight your corner for you. For other areas of fraud that are often investigated please also see our FRAUD section.