Artem Terzyan, 38, from Russia, and Deivis Grochiatskij, 44, from Lithuania, exploited the support scheme by claiming money for fake companies.

Now we can reveal the Crown Prosecution Service has launched a bid to confiscate up to £70million in cash and assets stolen by the money launderers.

The brazen pair started the Covid scam after being arrested for other crimes — claiming another £10million after inventing a string of bogus firms.

Justice campaigners have called on authorities to make sure taxpayers do not lose out.

David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “It is quite right that the CPS pursues every penny of their ill-gotten gains and ensures that neither they nor their families can profit from their crimes.”

In December, Terzyan was sentenced to 17 years in jail and Grochiatskij to 16 after being found guilty of money laundering following a four-year investigation by the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police.

Their crimes spanned the globe. Cops witnessed cash being delivered to their flats in the Docklands area of East London.

They were arrested in 2018 but began the bounce-back loans con while on bail.

A confiscation hearing is set to take place later this year.