Scottish Secretary Alister Jack benefited from a Government-backed £2million Covid loan, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
One Rebel – a fitness company part-owned by the multimillionaire senior Conservative cabinet minister – received the huge taxpayer cash injection at the height of the pandemic.
The firm operates a string of posh gyms in London but is currently in breach of the law after failing to file up-to-date accounts.
Our revelations come after the UK Government won the right in court earlier this month to keep the names of companies that received more than £47billion in Covid loans secret.
Opposition politicians have reacted with fury to the fact one beneficiary is a cabinet minister.
Lib Dem Scotland spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: "After the PPE procurement scandal and cosy alliances between Tory donors and peers, this Conservative government has cast a dark cloud over its ability to be up-front and honest.
“Alister Jack is a major shareholder in a firm that is in breach of its financial duties.”
Labour MSP Neil Bibby said: “The sooner we have a general election and kick out this hopeless Tory government, the better.
“Juggling his many business interests while running a government department is clearly beyond him.”
An SNP spokesman said: “We shouldn’t be surprised at reports suggesting that another company with links to a senior Tory is embroiled in another potential Covid funding scandal.
“Every day more evidence emerges showing just how broken and corrupt Westminster is and how important it is for Scotland to chart its own path.”
Records show that Dumfries and Galloway MP Jack is a major shareholder in Rebel One, owning over £70,000 of the firm. The precise value of his stake is not revealed in his register of interests and could be much higher. The Sunday Mail can reveal that after the pandemic hit, the firm quickly claimed the £2million government-backed loan.
The last accounts filed state that management “moved quickly to respond to the challenges” of Covid by “raising an additional £2million of debt under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)”.
The documents also reveal the firm claimed further government money through the furlough scheme as well as through government “business rates relief, retail and hospitality grants and VAT deferrals”.
Companies House records show One Rebel has failed to meet its legal obligation to file accounts by December 28.
Failure to file accounts is a criminal offence and can lead to fines and action against directors. The UK Government’s website states: “Not filing your confirmation statements, annual returns or accounts is a criminal offence – and directors or LLP designated members could be personally fined in the criminal courts.”
Billions of taxpayers’ money has been lost to fraud through Bounce Back Loans offered to companies struggling as a result of lockdown.
Ministers will be allowed to keep a list of recipients of Covid loans secret after a court ruling earlier this month.
A spokesperson for Jack said: “Alister Jack’s shareholding in the company is fully and properly declared in his register of member’s interests. Mr Jack has no involvement in the day-to-day running of the company. He is merely one of many shareholders.”
One Rebel operates 11 gyms aimed at wealthy clients who pay up to £179 a month to attend classes. The firm offers customers hair products, deodorants, moisturisers, cleansers, hair dryers and straighteners, ironing boards and even have an on-site hairdresser.
One Rebel was approached for comment.
The Government lent £47billion under the Bounce Back Loan scheme, which was launched in April 2020 by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor and provided loans of up to £50,000 through high street banks.
Around £30billion more was also lent through the CLBILS for big companies, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) for smaller firms, which provided state-backed loans of up to £5million, and the venture capital-focused Future Fund.
According to the latest government estimates, 7.5 per cent of the money will be lost to fraud.
Spotlight On Corruption, a transparency campaign group, took legal action after the Government-owned British Business Bank, which manages the schemes, refused to publish data on which companies received the taxpayer cash.
Spotlight argued that transparency about the recipients of the money could allow questionable and fraudulent claims to be identified, helping to prevent and detect misuse of public funds.
It has emerged that in many cases the loans were used to fund gambling sprees, home improvements, cars and watches.
But in a decision by the first-tier information tribunal, Judge Sophie Buckley found that the public interest in the fraud detection work was outweighed by the risk that named recipients could themselves be targeted by fraudsters.
Last year, we revealed taxpayers are footing gas and electricity bills for Jack – one of the richest MPs in parliament.
He claimed £4059 of utilities for his second home on expenses over three years as thousands of pensioners and low-income households were forced to “self-disconnect” as they have no money to put in pre-payment meters.
Jack owns a vast country estate in the Borders and is believed to be worth about £25million. Much of his fortune was made through storage containers firm Edinburgh Self Storage.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his behalf in relation to One Rebel. He was appointed as Secretary of State for Scotland in 2019 after becoming an MP in 2017.
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