Murat Dogantekin

Introduction

Murat Dogantekin is a taxi driver from Exeter, Devon who secured £100,000 in Covid-era Bounce Back Loans by claiming a combined annual turnover of £405,000 across two supposedly separate self-employed taxi businesses — figures the Insolvency Service found were fabricated, with his actual declared earnings just £16,500. He was jailed for two years and seven months in February 2025, and in September 2026 a confiscation order of £63,790 — more than £60,000 — was made against him at Exeter Crown Court.

Background Information

Dogantekin, 52, worked as a self-employed taxi driver in Devon, with declared earnings of £16,500 for the tax year ending in April 2020. The Bounce Back Loan scheme was designed to support small and medium-sized businesses through the pandemic, lending up to £50,000 — the maximum allowed under the scheme — with the amount available tied to the turnover an applicant declared. On his real income, the Insolvency Service calculated, he may have been entitled to one loan of just £4,125 had he been honest about what he earned. What his applications instead declared was annual turnover of £200,000 and £205,000 across two supposedly separate businesses.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted. Insolvency Service investigations found Dogantekin fraudulently secured £100,000 in Bounce Back Loans by inflating his taxi business turnover; he was jailed in February 2025 and a £63,790 confiscation order followed. He claimed two “separate” businesses — one said to trade as Ola Taxis — which investigators found was actually named after one of his clients.

Dogantekin secured the two Bounce Back Loans of £50,000 each — the maximum allowed under the scheme — from separate banks in May and June 2020. In his applications he stated that his annual turnover was £200,000 and £205,000 for two separate self-employed taxi businesses, both in his own name, although he said the second traded as Ola Taxis. He provided no evidence to support these claims. Insolvency Service investigators discovered that the second business was actually named after one of his clients: an attempt to distinguish it from his first business and make it appear he was eligible for a second loan when he was not. Against his declared earnings of £16,500 for the tax year ending in April 2020, he overstated his turnover by £388,500 in the combined applications. His dishonesty meant he received an additional £95,875 he did not deserve.

Financial investigations by the Insolvency Service identified £48,000 of Bounce Back Loan funds used to buy a two-bedroomed flat in Turkey. Dogantekin also purchased a 2017 Peugeot for £2,840 and spent a further £800 on a pizza oven — the flat, the car and the pizza oven the Insolvency Service singled out when announcing the case. No repayments to the loans were made before he was declared bankrupt in November 2021.

Public Reaction and Consequences

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.” He added that “Murat Dogantekin cynically exploited the scheme and our investigations ensured he was jailed for his fraudulent actions,” and that the Insolvency Service “will continue to pursue Covid fraudsters and use every available power to recover money obtained through criminality.”

The prison term followed Insolvency Service investigations which discovered he had fraudulently secured the £100,000 in Bounce Back Loans by inflating the turnover of his taxi business by more than £350,000 to secure the two loans in 2020. The sentence did not close the case. Insolvency Service financial investigators went on to identify the value of assets available to him, and their findings became the basis of the confiscation order made at Exeter Crown Court in September 2026 — a repayment action running in parallel with, not instead of, the criminal sentence.

Current Status

On Tuesday 8 September 2026, Exeter Crown Court made a confiscation order of £63,790 against Dogantekin. The order reflects the value of assets identified by Insolvency Service financial investigators as being available to him. He has been given three months to repay the funds; if he fails to do so, he could face a further five years in prison and would still be required to pay back the order in full.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A self-employed livelihood ended in criminal conviction and bankruptcy. Dogantekin was interviewed by the Official Receiver and provided some limited documentation, then ignored 11 attempts to contact him and secure specific records during a six-month period, and also failed to attend an interview under caution. The £100,000 in loans produced a prison sentence of two years and seven months, a bankruptcy on record since November 2021, and a confiscation order that can add five more years in prison if unpaid — while the money itself had gone to a flat in Turkey, a car and a pizza oven rather than into any business that survived the pandemic.

Sources

• Insolvency Service, “Devon taxi driver who bought Turkish flat and pizza oven using fraudulent Covid loans ordered to repay more than £60,000” — source