8-year ban for charity scam directors

A BUSINESSMAN from Greater Manchester has been banned from holding a directorship for eight years after an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

David Horan of Droylsden ran the Yellow Partnership and associated companies, MPH Direct and Strawberry Educational, along with Carlo Abbonizio of Leeds and Paul Percival of North Devon who both received the same penalty.

The businesses targeted small firms and offered to run their adverts in wall planners, directories and other material, promising to donate some of the fee to charity.

In many cases the products were never published and and only a small amount of the money raised went to charity.

According to the Insolvency Service the Yellow Partnership received £958,872 between July 2007 and August 2008. The company paid £47,000 to charities and £57,159 to its directors before going into administration in December 2008 with liabilities of £530,106 and no assets.

During the same period MPH Direct received £444,253, It paid £18,750 to charities and £53,948 to directors, failing in December 2008 with no assets and debts of £356,593.

Strawberry Educational failed in November 2008 owing creditors £403,739 after taking at least £634,096 between July 2007 and August 2008. It paid £43,000 to directors and nothing to charity.

The Insolvency Service said each company also “improperly retained details of consumers’ credit cards”, including the three-digit security code which left advertisers at risk of fraudulent transactions.

The directors also ran a debt collection company, McEwan Kingston Bailey, which used aggresive techniques, including threatening court action, when no debt was due.

Yellow Partnership, Strawberry Educational and MPH Direct were registered to an address in Hale, Greater Manchester, while McEwan Kingston Bailey was based in central Manchester.