Rupali Wagh, 50, from Cardiff, fraudulently applied for £216,250 in bounce back loans for her four companies over a period of only five months between May and September 2020, immediately after the scheme was launched at the outset of the pandemic.

The company director inflated the turnover of her businesses to secure four loans and used some of the funds to buy stocks and shares, and pay off debts. When confronted by investigators from the Insolvency Service, Wagh tried to blame someone else who had access to her computer, but retracted that later.