A group of fraudsters managed to steal a total of £195,000 in government grants by pretending to run a group of businesses, including a Greggs bakery.
Rochdale, St Helens, and Thurrock councils all provided money to Rais Kayani after a number of false applications were made for the Small Business Grant Fund.
The councils were defrauded out of £75,000, £35,000, and £85,000 respectively within the space of just five days, with those responsible later transferring a large proportion of the funds to America and Hong Kong.
Between the period of 4 May and 9 May 2020, fraudsters impersonated the popular high street bakery chain Greggs in order to secure cash from St Helens council.
A court heard that genuine business rate account numbers were used by the group in order to support the false applications, with thousands of pounds in funds then awarded to fraudsters by the local authority.
Investigators were unable to discover exactly who submitted the applications. They were, however, able to track the payments to an account for a company based in Luton, Beds, called RAK Traders and Services Ltd.
Rais Kayani, 31, was revealed as the sole director of the company, and bank statements from the business account showed that a total of £195,000 had been received from the three different local authorities in the corresponding period.
A few days after the money was paid into the account by the various councils, statements show £100,000 leaving on 12 May to an American account.
Shortly afterward, $47,500 was transferred from the American dollar account to another bank account, this time in Hong Kong.
Appearing at trial at Southwark Crown Court, Kayani plead guilty to a single charge of entering into a money laundering arrangement and was given a 16 months jail term, suspended for 18 months.
A suspended sentence is served in the community rather than in prison and is designed to allow the offender probation and rehabilitation.
The Crown Prosecution Service has since recovered £155,000 of taxpayer’s money and is seeking a confiscation order to retrieve the rest.
Speaking after sentencing, Ben Reid of the CPS said: “At a time of national emergency during the COVID-19 crisis, vast government funds were released to support struggling businesses across the country.
“Kayani was the cynical beneficiary of a series of false applications to local authorities in different parts of the country from where his business operated.
“Having dishonestly benefitted from the fraudulent applications for the Small Business Grant Fund, he transferred the proceeds overseas.
“We have already recovered £155,000 of taxpayer’s money and will now seek a confiscation order for the remaining funds.”
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Georgina Pellant -
5th July 2023 
