A DISGRACED company director from Staffordshire has been sentenced to four years in prison for fraud and stealing over £120,000.
Paul Mulholland, from Kings Bromley, was also disqualified from being a company director for ten years at Wolverhampton Crown Court following the prosecution by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The court heard that Mulholland stole £121,425 from BI Industries (Holdings) Ltd where he was sole director.
The money was paid to BI Industries by the European Commission to co-ordinate a research project to develop an alternative thickening agent to gelatine.
BIS said that Mulholland instructed the company’s bank to transfer the money to another company account, held by Shobwood Engineering, of which he was also a sole director.
Both companies went into liquidation and the monies were not recovered, it said. Mulholland also pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraudulently removing funds from Elson Industries Ltd where he was also sole director.
The charges represent eight removals, totalling £931,157, which were made by Mulholland prior to the company going into liquidation with debts of £234,297.
On passing sentence, Recorder John Steel QC said that Mulholland had breached the trust of banks, the EU and HMRC.
He also said that the defendant’s conduct involved self-enrichment and the “detection of these matters prevented the denting of public confidence in the business community”.
The judge said that he had no alternative but to impose an immediate custodial sentence.
Mulholland was found guilty at a previous hearing of one charge of theft, for stealing the £121,425, and eight charges of fraudulently removing funds from Elson Industries between October 2004 and May 2005.
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