O no3 Dec 2021 01:38
LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Britain's government failed to
guard properly against fraud in its 47 billion-pound ($63
billion) COVID emergency lending programme for small businesses,
opening itself up to billions of pounds of losses, a watchdog
warned on Friday.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme launched in May 2020 and did not
conduct credit checks or fully verify the identity of small
businesses applying for loans, the National Audit Office, which
scrutinises public-sector spending, said.
"Government prioritised getting Bounce Back Loans to small
businesses quickly but failed to put adequate fraud prevention
measures in place," said Gareth Davies, the NAO's comptroller
and auditor general.
"One impact of these decisions is apparent in the high
levels of estimated fraud."