Devon taxi driver who bought Turkish flat and pizza oven using fraudulent Covid loans ordered to repay more than £60,000

Confiscation order for convicted fraudster

A Devon taxi driver who “cynically exploited” a Covid loan scheme to buy a flat in Turkey and a pizza oven has been ordered to repay more than £60,000.

Murat Dogantekin had a confiscation order of £63,790 made against him at Exeter Crown Court on Tuesday 8 September.

The order reflects the value of assets identified by Insolvency Service financial investigators as being available to Dogantekin.

Dogantekin, 52, of Mulligan Drive, Exeter, 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.

Dogantekin was jailed for two years and seven months in February 2025 after Insolvency Service investigations discovered he had fraudulently secured £100,000 in Bounce Back Loans.

He had inflated the turnover of his taxi business by more than £350,000 to secure the two loans of £50,000 each, the maximum allowed under the scheme, in 2020.

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.

Murat Dogantekin cynically exploited the scheme and our investigations ensured he was jailed for his fraudulent actions.

The Insolvency Service will continue to pursue Covid fraudsters and use every available power to recover money obtained through criminality.

Dogantekin secured the two Bounce Back Loans from separate banks in May and June 2020.