Notorious fraudster who lived life of luxury jailed over Covid loan scam

A notorious fraudster who lived in luxury while owing taxpayers £72million in an unpaid court order has been jailed for 18 months over a Covid loan scam.

Gerald Smith was found guilty of cheating the public by taking out a £50,000 “bounce-back” loan during the pandemic to pay the legal fees of one of his closest associates. Smith, 69, claimed his firm Arcana Solutions (UK) Ltd had been adversely affected by the pandemic.

Sentencing at Southwark crown court in London, Judge Justin Cole said Smith had made a “calculated and cynical” attempt to exploit the system, aggravated by his record of dishonesty dating back 31 years.

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Smith blew a kiss to his wife and daughters as he was led to the cells. The former GP was jailed for two years in 1993 for taking £2m from the Farr Group’s pension fund in an attempt to keep the recession-hit construction business afloat.

In 2006, Smith was jailed for eight years for taking over £34m from IT company Izodia. He was ordered to pay back nearly £41m and, according to the Serious Fraud Office, the total amount owed rose with interest to more than £72m. He failed to pay and continued to enjoy holidays in Dubai, Hong Kong, Vancouver and the Maldives.

Smith made 105 trips on a private jet in a year and bought cars including a Porsche, a Bentley Continental and an Aston Martin. He used the £50,000 from the Covid scam for himself and to pay an existing £22,000 court costs order.

Det Insp Andrea Bakewell of City of London Police said after yesterday’s sentencing: “Smith demonstrated an incredible amount of manipulation, conceit and greed.”

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