A Birmingham accountant who defrauded Covid support schemes has been ordered to repay more than £300,000, the Insolvency Service said in a 21 October 2026 press release. Zeeshan Ashraf, 46, was given a confiscation order of £307,690 at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday 13 October. He had been jailed for three years and eight months at the same court in February 2025 after admitting five counts of fraud.

The report said Ashraf fraudulently obtained £268,102 between April 2020 and April 2021 and attempted to claim a further £52,733, targeting the Eat Out to Help Out, Bounce Back Loan and Covid Job Retention schemes. According to the release, he used his accountancy company, A-Z Certified Accountants Limited, to secure three £50,000 Bounce Back Loans from separate banks in 2020, when businesses were entitled to only one, and spent the money on lifestyle purposes, property investments and personal loans. The release said he also received £91,174 through the Covid Job Retention Scheme and took £26,928 from Eat Out to Help Out.

Ashraf was given three months to pay the order; failing that, he could face a further two-and-a-half years in prison and would still owe the full amount. The order includes an uplift reflecting changes in the value of money since 2020 and would have been higher had he not previously repaid around £33,000 of the Bounce Back Loans. The case was investigated by HMRC and the Insolvency Service and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.