Wolverhampton pharmacist sentenced for Covid-19 grant fraud

Sundip Gill, a registered pharmacist from Wolverhampton, has been sentenced to imprisonment after being found guilty of fraud related to Covid-19 grant applications.

According to the City of Wolverhampton Council, Gill made “false representations” and supplied “fake quotations” to support funding applications.

Gill is the director of two pharmaceutical companies, Sync Chem Ltd and Collateral Ltd, and operates four pharmacy businesses in Wolverhampton—Collateral, Your Pharmacy First, Low Hill Pharmacy, and Fallings Park Pharmacy.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government introduced grants to support local businesses.

As part of this initiative, the City of Wolverhampton Council launched the Relight Programme and allocated extra funding to help businesses improve their premises and increase carbon efficiency.

Businesses could apply for two grants and, if they met the qualifying criteria, could receive up to £5,000 for each successful application.

According to the council, Gill submitted eight grant applications to the programme and had the potential to receive a total of £40,000.

However, the council’s Counter Fraud Team were alerted to “discrepancies with the quotations” supplied by Gill.”

Upon investigations, it was discovered that Gill had submitted “fake quotations in support of his grant applications,” the council said.

“Following a detailed investigation, Gill was charged with 18 offences of dishonesty and Sync Chem Ltd and Collateral Ltd were charged with six offences of dishonesty, all under sections 1, 2 and 7 of the Fraud Act 2006,” it stated.

Gill denied the charges but was subsequently found guilty on all counts at Dudley Magistrates Court on 21 February.

He was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within a year. Additionally, he was ordered to pay £3,000 in costs and a £128 victim surcharge.

His two companies, Sync Chem Ltd and Collateral Ltd, were fined £14,690 and £8,690 respectively.

“You have been convicted for being fully involved in fraud and your attempts to exploit a system to assist legitimate businesses,” district judge Graham Wilkinson told Gill during sentencing.

He added that Gill had shown “no remorse.”

Councillor Louise Miles, cabinet member for resources at the City of Wolverhampton Council, condemned the abuse of the scheme, stating: “The Relight Programme was designed to support local business through, and to recover from, the Covid-19 pandemic, and not to be abused in the way that it was by Sundip Gill.”

She reaffirmed the council’s “zero tolerance” policy towards public sector fraud.

“It is far from a victimless crime, and its impacts ripple through our society, affecting every individual and the services we all rely on, and we will not hesitate to take action in instances like this,” she added.