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Devon taxi driver ordered to repay £63,790 after £100,000 Covid loan fraud funds Turkish apartment, car and pizza oven
- Perry Richardson
- 32 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A Devon taxi driver jailed for fraudulently obtaining £100,000 in Covid Bounce Back Loans has been ordered to repay £63,790 following a financial investigation by the Insolvency Service.
Murat Dogantekin, 52, was handed the confiscation order at Exeter Crown Court on Tuesday 8 September. The sum represents assets investigators identified as available for recovery from the convicted fraudster.
Dogantekin has been given three months to pay the £63,790. Failure to comply could result in a further five years in prison, while the debt would remain payable.
The taxi driver was jailed for two years and seven months in February 2025 after an Insolvency Service investigation found he had fraudulently secured two £50,000 Bounce Back Loans in 2020. The £50,000 payments represented the maximum available under the Government-backed scheme.
Dogantekin obtained the loans from separate banks in May and June 2020. He claimed annual turnover of £200,000 and £205,000 respectively for two separate self-employed taxi businesses, both operated in his own name. He said the second traded as Ola Taxis.
Investigators found Dogantekin had declared earnings of just £16,500 for the tax year ending April 2020. His combined loan applications therefore overstated his turnover by £388,500.
According to the Insolvency Service, an accurate declaration could have entitled Dogantekin to a single loan of only £4,125. Instead, he received an additional £95,875 to which he was not entitled.
Investigators also discovered that the purported second taxi business was named after one of Dogantekin’s clients. The Insolvency Service said this was an attempt to distinguish it from his first business and create the appearance that he qualified for another Bounce Back Loan.
Financial investigators traced £48,000 of the loan funds to the purchase of a two-bedroom flat in Turkey. Dogantekin also bought a 2017 Peugeot for £2,840 and spent another £800 on a pizza oven.
No repayments were made on the loans before Dogantekin was declared bankrupt in November 2021. He provided some limited documentation after being interviewed by the Official Receiver, but subsequently ignored 11 attempts to obtain specific records over a six-month period and failed to attend an interview under caution.
Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said: “Bounce Back Loans were designed to support small and medium-sized businesses through the pandemic. They were not handed out to taxi drivers to spend on properties and pizza ovens.
“Murat Dogantekin cynically exploited the scheme and our investigations ensured he was jailed for his fraudulent actions.
“The Insolvency Service will continue to pursue Covid fraudsters and use every available power to recover money obtained through criminality.”
The confiscation order represents the latest stage of enforcement against Dogantekin, with the Insolvency Service seeking to recover assets following his criminal conviction rather than ending the case with the prison sentence.
