Police investigate £300,000 Covid fund fraud

Lincolnshire Police said they were investigating the alleged fraud

Police are investigating possible cases of fraud worth £300,000 from a council's Covid recovery fund.

Lincolnshire County Council said that it uncovered applications which "don't appear to be genuine" while carrying out financial checks.

The money was claimed from grant schemes including the Business Recovery Fund, which gave cash to firms which suffered losses during the pandemic.

Lincolnshire Police said no arrests had been made.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council distributed the grants to small businesses, with eligible ones entitled to between £2,500 and £10,000.

It is understood that the frauds were uncovered after an audit of grants handed out to small businesses.

Gary Douglas, principal investigator at the council, said: "We take the misuse of public funds very seriously and it's important to us that every penny is spent to the best effect.

"When we administered our grant schemes last year, we ensured there was a robust financial checking and referral system in place."

“Through this, we highlighted applications to a number of grant schemes that don’t appear to be genuine and we have referred these to Lincolnshire Police for further investigation.”