Fake Greggs manager jailed for £710k baker fraud

A fraudster who claimed to be the area manager for 32 Greggs bakeries to claim Covid support funds designated for small business support has been jailed for four years

Aftab Baig, 47, defrauded Leeds City Council out of more than £710,000 during the pandemic, although he was never employed by Greggs.

Baig, from Glasgow, was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court on 12 February after a six-day trial for abusing the support schemes and was sentenced on 15 April to four years imprisonment. Proceedings to recover the money will now take place after £90,000 was still outstanding.

The fraudulent activity began in May 2020, only lasting until July before Leeds City Council caught onto Baig.

He was originally arrested at his home address in Glasgow in 2020 where the police found £16,000 in cash and forged remittance slips which investigators believed were planned for convincing the bank to release frozen funds from his accounts.

Kelly Ward from the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Baig took advantage of the difficult circumstances of the pandemic in 2020 to defraud the council out of taxpayers’ money.

‘Those who cheat the public purse are stealing funds which should rightly go towards services and the community, or in this case towards supporting small businesses through an extremely challenging time.

‘We will not hesitate to work together with investigators such as NATIS to bring offenders like Baig to justice. We will also be starting proceedings to recover any assets resulting from this criminality.’

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