Eight-year ban for Cheshire director

THE director of an Ellesmere Port security firm has been disqualified from acting as a director for eight years for failing to keep proper accounts.

Christopher Gerald Bacon’s firm CNN Security claimed a £130,000 VAT rebate that was not due and £700,000 went out in unexplained withdrawals, according to an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Mr Bacon, 43, from Sandbach, Cheshire, has given an undertaking that he will not act as a director of a limited company until April 2021.

The investigation found that CNN Security had failed to maintain proper accounts or deliver adequate records to an insolvency practitioner. This meant it was impossible for investigators to determine CNN’s true tax debt to HM Revenue & Customs.

Mr Bacon admitted that, while a director of CNN Security, his company claimed back £130,188 in VAT on purchase invoices that were not eligible for such rebates. In addition, between November 2009 and May 2011, cash withdrawals of almost £700,000 were made from CNN’s bank account, but the reason for the withdrawals was not clear.

Vicky Bagnall, investigations and enforcement director at The Insolvency Service said: “The lack of accounts at CNN meant hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash withdrawals went unexplained and it was also impossible for investigators to establish how much the company owed in tax.

“Failure to keep proper records, particularly when a company is entering financial difficulty, is a serious matter and the law rightly treats it as such. Company directors tempted to neglect their duties in this area should take heed that the Insolvency Service will investigate them and they could be removed from the business environment.”