Cornwall hotel and restaurant boss behind Godolphin Hotel and Unicorn pub disqualified over £100,000 loan fraud

A restaurateur from Cornwall has been disqualified from running any companies after fraudulently applying for two £100,000 recovery loans during the Covid pandemic. There were two separate £50,000 loans when he was only entitled to one.

Taskin Muzaffer, 54, of Alma Terrace in Penzance, applied for two Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) loans for his business in 2020. Then called Pedler Peckham LTD, later renamed Omega Profit Ltd , business loans totaled £100,000, on the contrary. to the terms of the scheme.

The businessman, who is involved in running The Godolphin and The Engine House Inn at Marazion, Unicorn on the Beach in Porthtowan and is involved in redeveloping The Vault in Penzance, falsely said he had not yet applied for such a loan then when requested. for a second one. His co-owned company, The Happiness Cartel, also opened London’s Pedler restaurant and the former Shutters restaurant in Canary Wharf.

READ MORE: The reborn Cornish burger chain promises to pay all local suppliers

READ MORE: Godolphin continues to pay staff late because it ‘can’t afford to pay everyone’

During the pandemic, any limited company was entitled to apply for a recovery loan of up to 25% of its 2019 turnover up to a maximum of £50,000 under the BBL scheme. Five months apart, Mr Muzaffer had applied to two different lenders for the full amount for the same company.

Based on annual turnover, the business – where Mr Muzaffer acted as a director from 29 May 2018 until 18 April 2022, when his appointment as a director was terminated – was entitled to a recovery loan of £50,000. On 11 May 2020, Mr Muzaffer claimed the sum of £50,000 which was paid to the company and made a second claim on 16 October 2020 which was also paid.

Get the best stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox every day. Choose what you want Here.

The two £50,000 payments went into separate business bank accounts. The Government Insolvency Service said the terms and conditions required the applicant to self-declare that they had not made any other application for a BBL for the business.

It further added that Mr Muzaffer, who came under fire this week over claims his hotel was not paying staff on time, falsely stated the business had not previously applied for and obtained a BBL with another lender when he done it. The business was wound up on 26 April 2023 and had debts of £263,364.42 at the time of winding up. Of this, £101,982.52 was owed to the banks for the BBLs taken. Read the full story of Godolphin employees being paid late and ending up with debt and financial problems here.

As a result, he was banned from directing for 11 years. The order started on April 15 this year – three months ago. When contacted for comment, Mr Muzaffer said HMRC had been offered a full repayment plan.

He also said that Omega Profit Ltd was a name the new operators chose when they took over the site and that he was never a director of the business while it was under that name.

⚠️ Want the latest breaking news and top articles about Cornwall first? Click here to join CornwallLive on WhatsApp and we’ll send you breaking news and top stories straight to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out anytime you want. If you are curious, you can read Privacy Notice ⚠️