Company director banned for nine years

The director of a firm which traded in fizzy drinks, car parts and accident data has been banned for nine years, for failing to ensure the company kept adequate accounting records.

Javid Morgra, 32 of Bolton, admitted that he had failed to keep sufficient company records and gave an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy not to be a director of a limited company, for nine years, from August 7.

Mogra was the sole director of Middleborough Ltd (Middleborough), registered at 9 Maplewood Gardens, Bolton, and which was wound up by the High Court in the public interest on November 14, 2016.

The company owed creditors at least £2.1m despite filing accounts showing turnover of £2.3m for the period ended 31 August 2015.

In giving his undertaking, Mogra did not dispute that he failed to ensure Middleborough Ltd kept adequate accounting records, and that as a consequence, it has not been possible to:

• verify his explanation for the shortfall of £54,229 paid to Middleborough by a customer in respect of beverages supplied between June2 9, 2015 and August 27, 2015
• verify his explanation for an underpayment of £1,435,954 to the supplier, a shortfall of £1,235,302 received from the customer and an overall loss of £348,390 incurred on sales of car parts between January 2, 2015 and September 16, 2015
• verify his explanation regarding the sale of 6,136 sets of accident data and a debt due to a supplier of at least £624,929 incurred between July 1, 2015 and September 16, 2015
• determine the accuracy of financial statements filed at Companies House for the periods ending February 28, 2014, February 10, 2015 and August 31, 2015
• determine the accuracy of Middleborough’s VAT returns submitted to HMRC in relation to the 2015 to /2016 VAT periods
• determine the nature and extent of Middleborough’s assets and liabilities
• verify the legitimacy of Middleborough’s trading or show that all transactions have been carried out in the usual course of business and to the benefit of the company

Ken Beasley, official receiver of the Insolvency Service’s Public Interest Unit, said: “The Insolvency Service will not tolerate directors who cannot show that their companies are being run for legitimate purposes.

The director of this company has fallen far short of the standard of record keeping that can be reasonably expected and as a result, there were serious concerns over the true nature of this business.