Marco Pierre White's old company goes bust owing £3.6m

A company set up in 1995 by Marco Pierre White and Jimmy Lahoud has gone into voluntary liquidation with debts of £3.6m.

Tenon Corporate Recovery was called in on 14 March to wind up the business, which was called MPW Criterion until November 2005, when it was renamed PCO 130.

The company's biggest creditor is White Star Restaurants, which is owed £2.56m. PCO 130 also owes the tax man £527,000.

David Ambrose at Tenon said PCO 130 had been set up for the Criterion restaurant, which he believed was funded by White Star Restaurants. The Criterion was converted in February by White and jockey Frankie Dettori into a Frankie's Italian Bar & Grill.

Ambrose said there was no money left in the pot for creditors. He added that his investigation was complicated by a running dispute with HM Revenue and Customs over tax owed on the company's hefty liabilities.

White resigned as a director of PCO 130 in July last year.

By Angela Frewin

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