Property firm director banned for 15 years
A DIRECTOR from Birmingham-based real estate firm Maple Grow Ltd has been disqualified from being a company director for 15 years following a ruling at Birmingham County Court.
Mahmood Anwar Yaqub, aged 48, was disqualified following a case brought by the Insolvency Service.
The investigation found that Yaqub and other directors of the company had obtained mortgage advances of almost £1.8m on six properties which they knew were worth less than £1m.
They had previously purchased the properties for around £960,000 before selling them to their own company. The properties have subsequently been sold for less than £600,000.
Maple Grow went into administration on March 26, 2009 with liabilities of around £3.5m.
Post-Administration, five of the properties have been sold realising £532,000. The sixth property is valued at £45,000.
Four other directors of Maple Grow have also received disqualifications totalling 32 years.
The other two directors in this matter were Muhammed Usman Mughal and Mohsin Afsar. Mughal has signed a Director Disqualification Undertaking banning him from being a company director for 14 years. Afsar signed a similar undertaking banning him for 12 years.
The other two directors of Maple Grow Ltd were Ravinder Bhardwaj and Raj Sidhu. Both have signed undertakings banning them for three years.
Commenting on the disqualifications, Claire Entwistle, director of company investigations north, said: “The order given by Birmingham County Court in respect of Mahmood Anwar Yaqub sends a clear message to other company directors; if you run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors you will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment.”
