Restaurant director handed six-year ban
Mohammed Liton, director of Penicuik Clippers Ltd, which operated a restaurant in Penicuik, near Edinburgh, has been banned from acting as a director of a limited company for six years.
Liton's disqualification as a director of the business, which offers Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine, follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
On 14 July 2015 Penicuik Clippers, with a liability of £44,040.34 was placed into compulsory liquidation. Liton was the sole director of Penicuik Clippers up to his resignation on 31 March 2015.
Following the liquidator's appointment, the Insolvency Service investigation found that on or around 11 March 2015, Mohammed Liton transferred the interest in a freehold property with a value of at least £66,723 net of mortgage finance from the company to his own name in settlement of his outstanding loan account to the company as well as taking the subsequent balance in cash.
The Insolvency Service said that this transaction was to the detriment of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which was owed £45,220 at the time of the property transfer and £58,799 at Liquidation.
Robert Clarke, head of company investigation at the Insolvency Service, said: "Directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the local economy.
"The undertaking signed by Mohammed Liton should send a clear message to other directors tempted to help themselves first; they have a duty to their customers and creditors and if they neglect this duty they could be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment.
"The Insolvency Service will take action against directors who do not take their obligations seriously and abuse their position of trust."
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