Solihull insolvency practitioner stripped of licence

A SOLIHULL insolvency practitioner has had his licence withdrawn following an investigation by Insolvency Practitioners Association.

The IPA’s membership and authorisation committee has ruled that Ian Pankhurst, an insolvency practitioner with Solihull-based Cobalt, has ceased to be fit to hold a licence.

In a summary of its sanctions, the IPA’s M&A committee said: “It was found that Mr Pankhurst had ceased to be a fit and proper person to act as an insolvency practitioner because he had drawn a substantial amount of money from numerous estates and applied these for personal use.”

The order applies with immediate effect.

The Cobalt website still lists Mr Pankhurst as a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at the firm.

It states he is a director of the business and he obtained his licence in 2008, setting up Cobalt the following year to “provide a very different approach to directors, owners and stakeholders of distressed businesses not being provided elsewhere in the market”.

It said prior to that he acquired a wealth of experience over the preceding 15 years working within other professional services practices and in that time he has “acted for many different and diverse companies and individuals in financial difficulty”.

It adds: “He has a diligent approach to finding the right practical and commercial solutions for problems and challenges directors, owners and stakeholders face on a day to day basis in the tough and unforgiving market place.”

He is also listed as a member of R3 (The Association of Business Recovery Professionals) and the IPA.