Javed Akhtar

Introduction

Javed Akhtar is a 49-year-old second-hand car dealer from Bradford and the director of Natasha Motors Ltd (company number 09164514). In May 2020 he applied for a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan for the dealership — the maximum loan available under the scheme — declaring a company turnover of £400,000. The declaration was false, and Akhtar has admitted the fraud. Following Insolvency Service investigations he was handed a suspended sentence, disqualified as a company director for six years, and, on Thursday 6 August 2026, made subject to a confiscation order of £66,917 at Bradford Crown Court. The order requires the money he fraudulently secured to be repaid in full, within three months, on pain of prison if he does not pay.

Background Information

Natasha Motors Ltd was Akhtar’s second-hand car dealership business in Bradford. The scheme he turned to in the spring of 2020 was, in the words of Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, “designed to help genuine businesses survive the pandemic”. In May 2020, Akhtar applied for the £50,000 Bounce Back Loan — the maximum allowed under the scheme — and claimed in the application that the company’s turnover was £400,000. The Insolvency Service’s record of the case is blunt: “The declaration was false.” The business did not carry the loan honestly for long. Within a year of the application, Natasha Motors Ltd went into liquidation, in April 2021, and Akhtar failed to hand over adequate accounting records to the liquidator — a failure that would later ground his disqualification as a director.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted fraud; six-year director disqualification; confiscation order of £66,917 — the Covid loan to be repaid in full. The false £400,000 turnover declaration is the established finding. The “booming” trade claim, the accountant-completed form and the “99%” spent on car deals below are Akhtar’s own accounts, given in interview under caution.

In an interview under caution, Akhtar claimed his business was “booming”. Akhtar inconsistently said that the company’s turnover for 2019 was £200,000 and £300,000, two different figures, both below the sum he had declared on the loan application. He said the form had been completed on his instruction by the company’s accountant. And he added that “99%” of the funds were used to purchase and sell on second-hand cars to a contact in Ireland. The one number that never shifted was the £400,000 turnover in the application — and it was false.

The missing records closed off any fuller account of the company’s affairs. When Natasha Motors Ltd went into liquidation in April 2021, Akhtar failed to hand over adequate accounting records to the liquidator. For that failure he was disqualified as a company director in August 2023 — an Insolvency Service ban for failing to deliver up adequate accounting records — and the six-year disqualification runs until August 2029. By the time the ban was imposed, the criminal investigation into the loan itself had already caught up with him.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The criminal outcome came before the confiscation. Akhtar had previously admitted fraudulently applying for the £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan for Natasha Motors Ltd in 2020, and in March 2026 he was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work. The Insolvency Service’s response was to pursue the money itself, using confiscation powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Alexander Grierson, Head of Asset Recovery at the Insolvency Service, said: “Javed Akhtar deliberately exploited a scheme designed to help genuine businesses survive the pandemic. Pursuing confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act is a priority for the Insolvency Service, ensuring criminals cannot hold on to the proceeds of their fraud.”

Current Status

Akhtar, of Bradford, was handed a confiscation order of £66,917 when he appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday 6 August 2026. Financial investigations by the Insolvency Service had identified assets including three cars and a solar panel investment worth more than £150,000, indicating that he had sufficient assets to repay the Bounce Back Loan in full, along with an uplift to account for the change in the value of money since 2020. The 49-year-old must repay all the money within three months. If he fails to do so, he could face six months in prison — and would still be required to pay back the funds. The director disqualification imposed in August 2023 remains in force, running until August 2029.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The order is designed to leave the fraud worthless to the man who committed it. As Alexander Grierson put it: “This order means Akhtar does not benefit from his dishonesty. He must now repay every penny of the money he fraudulently obtained.” In practice that means a £66,917 debt backed by identified assets — three cars and a solar panel investment worth more than £150,000 — a default route to six further months in prison, and a criminal sentence already imposed in a 20-month prison term suspended for two years with 250 hours of unpaid work. The dealership is gone: Natasha Motors Ltd has been in liquidation since April 2021, and the accounting records that might have shown how the business and the loan money were handled were never adequately delivered up. The six-year ban keeps Akhtar out of company directorship until August 2029.

Sources

• Insolvency Service, “Bradford second-hand car dealer ordered to repay Covid loan cash in full” — source