Rugby sponsors kicked into touch for £50m tax liability
TWO directors of a scrap metal company which was once the main sponsor of Super League team Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and rugby championship club Dewsbury Rams have been hit with a combined 20 year ban.
JKL (Wakefield) Ltd, which traded under the style Eric France Metal Recycling, was pursued by HMRC last year for massive debts which saw luxury sports cars, including a Porsche Panamera and McLaren MP4-12C, property and watches sold off by auction by its joint liquidators to raise cash.
Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Jody Dean Firth and Albert Leonard Goddard both gave undertakings to Business Secretary Vince Cable not to be a director of a limited company for 13 and seven years respectively.
JKL (Wakefield) Ltds went into voluntary liquidation last February owing creditors and shareholders more than £50m.
The misconduct uncovered by investigators included that they allowed a connected party who was a disqualified director and un-discharged bankrupt to act as a director of JKL.
Commenting on the disqualification, Ken Beasley, of the Insolvency Service’s Public Interest Unit, said: “These two directors have deprived the taxpaying public of huge amounts of revenue whilst lining their own pockets.
“The Insolvency Service will not tolerate dishonest behavior and our investigators will make every effort to expose and deal with such misconduct.”
The investigation further found that between 2008 and 2013 JKL (Wakefield) Ltd evaded tax liabilities to HM Revenue & Customs resulting in VAT losses of at least £50.2m and losses of £4.9m in respect of unpaid PAYE tax and National Insurance, while Mr Firth and the connected party received £1.25m from suppliers which was not accounted for in the company’s books and records.
Further, the connected party received a bonus payment from JKL (Wakefield) Ltd of £1.1m which was also not accounted for in the company’s books and records.
