Anna Van Der Hulst applied for two taxpayer-based Bounce Back Loans (BBL) for her company, Digital Oblix Ltd, for which the business was not eligible.
Van Der Hulst was the sole director and majority shareholder of the company.
The BBL scheme was part of a package of government measures to help businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On 27 October 2020 Van Der Hulst applied for a £50,000 loan.
She then followed that with a second application for another £50,000 loan with a different bank just over a week later on 4 November 2020, declaring that it was her only application.
The Insolvency Service report into Van Der Hulst’s conduct found that she had declared a turnover of £200,000 for calendar year 2019 in her BBL applications.
However, its investigations found accounts showing sales of just £29,169.
The Digital Oblix tax return for the period 20 December 2018 to 19 December 2019, dated 18 March 2020, reported total turnover from trade as £28,240.
Subsequently Van Der Hulst provided details for a bank account that showed credits of no more than £45,690 for the period from 25 March 2019 to 25 March 2020.
“On this basis, the level of annual turnover declared in the application for BBL1 and BBL2 for the calendar year 2019 was significantly overstated,” the Insolvency Service said.
The BBL scheme entitled businesses established prior to 1 January 2019 to apply for a BBL up to a maximum of £50,000, being 25% of the firm's turnover for calendar year 2019.
Multiple applications were not permitted.
“The BBL scheme provided that to be eligible for a BBL, the business should not already be in the process of applying for or have received a BBL scheme facility,” the report stated.
Applicants were also required to confirm that the BBL funds would only be used to provide an economic benefit to the business, and not for personal purposes.
The Insolvency Service found that Van Der Hulst made payments from the first BBL of £49,112 into her personal bank account in early November 2020.
Later the same month she then made further payments into her personal account totalling £50,000 after receiving the second BBL.
Digital Oblix went into voluntary liquidation in August 2022.
The firm’s estimated total deficiency was £107,082 made up entirely of the amounts owed to Starling Bank and HSBC.
According to the liquidator’s report for Digital Oblix, Van Der Hulst made a payment settlement of just £4,000, having demonstrated that she had insufficient assets to repay the money she had taken in full.
Due to her conduct Van Der Hulst has received a 10 year disqualification.
The ban became effective on 11 September.
Van Der Hulst’s month of birth is January 1992, and her last known address was on Hogarth Road, London SW5.
