A GLASGOW businessman bought a home worth £160k after using his property management companies to take out Covid business loans that they were not eligible for.

Brendan Michael Gaughan transferred £100k into his personal bank account after selling the property on. 

The 40-year-old has been disqualified as a director for 12 years following an investigation. 

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Gaughan was in charge of three property management companies - Gaughan Group Ltd, Gaughan Property Ltd, and Rentl Property Ltd - which were only incorporated in February 2020 and did no business until April 2020.

As a result, they were not eligible for funds through the Bounce Back Loan scheme, which was only available to firms that had been doing business on March 1, 2020.

But in May 2020, Gaughan Group Ltd and Gaughan Property Ltd received loans of £50k each and Rentl Property Ltd received a BBL of £35k.

The Insolvency Service has since revealed that Gaughan transferred all the funds into a single account and proceeded to use the money to buy a property worth nearly £160k in August 2020.

He then sold the property in March 2021 for just over £140k, and on the same day transferred £100k of the proceeds to his personal account.

All three companies were put into liquidation in October 2021, which triggered the investigation.

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Steven McGinty, investigation manager at the Insolvency Service, said: "Bounce Back Loans were made available for trading companies adversely affected by the pandemic.

"Brendan Gaughan should have known his companies weren’t entitled to the loans yet he took them anyway and used the funds for personal gain.

"We will not hesitate to take action against directors who have abused Covid-19 financial support like this."