Saqib Zulfiqar, 40, of Smedley Lane, Cheetham Hill, was also banned from holding a directorship for 10 years after pleading guilty to fraudulent trading at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester.
The court heard how Zulfiqar started a business called Ask 4 Car Hire Ltd, which was at first legitimately run from a rented property in Stockport, but then he began submitting falsified accounts to Companies House in order to boost his company’s credit rating.
Ask 4 Car Hire Ltd then applied for credit with 17 victim companies which granted the requests as a result of the favourable credit rating obtained by his falsified accounting.
Zulfiqar spent freely on the company credit accounts, buying equipment and hotel accommodation before, without warning, packing up the Ask 4 Car Hire Ltd offices, vacating the premises and taking with him all the property bought with the credit accounts.
At the time Zulfiqar ran away, he owed £288,000 to various lenders and Detective Constable Kate Mason said he set out from the beginning to deceive credit companies.
“He then carefully doctored his accounts to make his company appear vastly more profitable than it really was, all in an effort to extract as much credit as possible from the victim companies,” said DC Mason.
“Only when he had given himself the best possible chance to steal as much money as possible did he pack up and leave, owing nearly a quarter of a million pounds to those companies who had trusted him.
“I hope that this sentence will send a message to those people who believe they can con such a large amount of money from businesses and think they can get away with it.”
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