Green company bosses cooked the books

A FATHER and son from Lancashire have been disqualified from acting as directors for 13 and nine years respectively, after selling duplicated carbon credits and then trying to cover it up.

An investigation by the Insolvency Service found that John Coates, 49, sold duplicated carbon credits to the value of more than £222,000.

He then used fictitious entries in a company’s accounting records in an attempt to disguise £343,000 paid to him and his wife in the full knowledge that the company would either have to replace these or repay the money received from the customer.

Within two months of the payments being made, the company went into liquidation with debts of £301,423.

Although not formally appointed a director of Accrington-based Green Deal Advice 247 Limited, the Insolvency Service said John Coates was the dominant driving force behind the company.

He was involved in negotiations with energy companies to supply carbon credits in order for them to comply with the Government’s Energy Company Obligations (ECO).

Between October 2013 and January 2014, Green Deal Advice 247 Limited supplied 2,000 tonnes of carbon measures to one energy company for which it had received £222,145. Unbeknown to the customer, these measures had already been supplied to another energy company, and thus were duplicated.

John Coates was advised by the customer of this issue, and made aware of the need to replace these carbon measures or ultimately to repay the monies received.

Nonetheless, between June 2014 and July 2014, £343,000 was transferred from Green Deal Advice 247 Limited’s bank account to accounts in the name of John Coates and that of his wife.

The company’s accounting records were amended to show fictitious payments for carbon measures supplied by unconnected parties.

When challenged by the liquidator regarding a number of these transactions John Coates produced bogus invoices to the value of £196,000 in an attempt to justify and explain them.

John Coates and his son Robert Lee Coates, 27, who was the appointed director of Green Deal Advice 247 Limited throughout its trading life, also failed to maintain accounting records sufficient to show that a further £276,423 was expended for the benefit of the company’s trade.

John and Robert Lee Coates had also failed to explain the whereabouts of a company vehicle purchased for £33,500, which was still registered to Green Deal Advice 247 Limited as at the date of liquidation.

Robert Clarke, head of insolvent investigations north, said: “There was a very clear intention on the part of the directors to disguise their true actions by falsifying the company’s accounting records to give a completely different picture as to what had occurred. Directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of customers and creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the economy.”