A Rochdale man who claimed more than £22,000 in COVID-19 business grants he wasn’t entitled to has been handed a suspended sentence and ordered to pay all the money back.
Mohammad Kabil Saddique, 33, of Clayton Street, Rochdale, claimed to be running a car business, known as Medallion Motors Limited, from Fieldhouse Industrial Estate in Rochdale and made 6 successful separate claims for covid assistance between May 2020 and April 2021. In total, he successfully claimed £22,336.
Investigations by our counter fraud team and Greater Manchester Police, which were supported by intelligence from the National Fraud Initiative, revealed that he had deliberately falsified his business lease documents and that he had only ever used a pigeonhole at the industrial estate for post. There was no evidence he had ever run a business from there.
Mr Saddique admitted 2 counts of fraud by false representation at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday, 5 June 2026.
In addition, he also pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle at the same hearing, after he ordered a car costing more than £58,000 from an Audi dealership and cancelled the payment while the car was already on its way to him. Police eventually tracked down the stolen Audi RS3, after he took possession of it and ignored all correspondence from the dealership regarding payment or returning the car.
He was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, 270 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity days. He has also been ordered to pay all the money back.
Councillor Carol Wardle, cabinet member for finance and growth, said:
“While legitimate businesses were relying on covid grants to protect their livelihoods and pay their bills, chancers like Mr Saddique unfortunately chose to use this time of national crisis to line their own pockets at taxpayers’ expense.
“The fact that he backed up these lies by elaborately forging documents makes it even worse and shows how committed he was to defrauding the public purse. I’m delighted that he’s been brought to book through the efforts of ourselves, alongside Greater Manchester Police (GMP).”