Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
A Management Consultant who secured two Covid Bounce Back Loans – totalling £80,000 – having twice significantly overstated his company’s turnover has been disqualified for 11 years.
Romain McLean was the sole director of RMC Associates Limited, registered at Kingston Road in Wimbledon. He applied for a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back loan for his business in May 2020, when it was only entitled to around £12,000.
An Insolvency Service investigation found that he had overstated the turnover of his company by more than £100,000 to secure the initial loan.
In an interview during the investigation, Mr McLean admitted exaggerating his turnover to secure the loan, stating that he ‘just wanted to get as much money as he could’.
He also applied for a second loan at the maximum of £50,000 in July 2020, having falsely stated it was his first and only application and again overstating the turnover of his business by thousands of pounds.
McLean did not dispute the undertaking, agreeing to an 11-year director disqualification which began on 30 May 2025. RMC Associates Limited was incorporated in 2008 and was subject to a winding-up petition in 2023.
The Bounce Back loan scheme helped small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000, at a low interest rate, guaranteed by the Government.
The loans were made on the condition that they were not to be used for personal purposes, but could be used, for example, to purchase a company asset such as a vehicle, if it would provide an economic benefit to the business.
The money lent to a company had to be paid back, over six or 10 years, with payments starting 12 months after the company received the loan.
Following the Insolvency Service investigation, he signed an undertaking disqualifying him from being a director for 11 years and offered a settlement repayment of £60,000.
Insolvency Service Chief Investigator Ann Oliver said “Romain McLean overstated his company’s turnover to claim not one but two Covid Bounce Back loans. He secured money for his company it was not wholly entitled to not once but twice.
“This lengthy director disqualification demonstrates the seriousness of his actions and serves as a warning to others who seek to wrongfully claim taxpayers’ money.”