‘Bounce back loan was a fraud’

A businessman accused of fraudulently applying for a £50,000 ‘bounce back loan’ during the pandemic claims he needed the money to keep his company running, a court heard. Gerald Smith, 67, is charged with fraud by false represenation after he made the Covid-19 business loan application on 29 September 2020. Smith claimed his firm Arcana Solutions (UK) Ltd was adversely affected by the pandemic and he needed the government money to ‘meet personal expenditure and liabilities’. Frederick Hookway, prosecuting, said…