Nahim Mohammed Banaras, the director of a meat wholesaler in Cleveland, North Yorkshire, has been disqualified for seven years for failure to keep proper books and records if his business.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, accepted the disqualification undertaking from Banaras which bans him from 12th June 2017, from acting as a company director or from managing or controlling a limited company, until 2024.
Banaras was director of North East Meats Limited (NEM), which traded from Boosbeck, Cleveland. It went into liquidation in August in 2015 owing a total of £1,128,393.
An Insolvency Service investigation into NEM discovered that from at least March 2014, Banaras has failed to maintain, preserve and deliver up records that were adequate to explain the financial position of NEM.
As a result, the absence of complete records made it not possible to determine the legitimacy of at least £195,476 of credit stated to have been granted to a connect company for the destruction of purchased livestock.
NEM’s books and records also are said to have had no evidence to verify the destruction of around 2,827 animals.
It was also not possible to determine the legitimacy of management charges paid by NEM to a connected company totalling £450,000.
Aldona O’Hara, chief investigator of Insolvent Investigations Midlands & West at the Insolvency Service, said: "Company Directors have a duty to ensure that their companies maintain proper accounting records and following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency.
"Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged their duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety.
"This director has paid the price for failing to do that, as he cannot now carry on in business other than at his own risk."
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.