After an investigation by the Insolvency Service, the directors of Cleartrade Limited have been banned as company directors for a total of 43 years.

Mr Marcel McKeigue, Mr Graham Stephen Philip Hawrysh and Mr Carl Stuart Thornton sold voluntary emission reduction carbon credits (VERs) to members of the public that were completely worthless and had no investment potential. The VERs were sold by the company at highly inflated prices.

Cleartrade Limited was incorporated on 19 October 2011 and registered at a London address.

Teams within the Public Interest Unit got involved with Cleartrade Limited after an investigation by Company Investigations was passed onto the Insolvency Service.

They discovered that the company sold VERs to general members of the public between November 2011 and October 2012 as an investment and netted almost £1 million. However, the credits had no potential and the directors should’ve given this warning to investors showing an interest.

Disqualifications for all three men involved were given, with the penalty meaning that neither three parties will be able to manage, promote or become a director of a limited company until 2031.

Anthony Hannon, Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit, says:

“This company’s claims about the profits to be made by buying its carbon credits were quite simply untrue and only the company and those working for it made money.

The lengthy periods of disqualification handed down in this case show that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated by the Insolvency Service nor by the Court.”

The disqualification means that neither McKeigue, Hawrysh or Thornton are able to be the receiver of a company’s property, act as director or become involved with the formation, promotion or management of a limited liability partnership.

In this circumstance, the disqualification regime exists to protect members of the public who have the potential of being affected by the scam.

A financial advisor has been given a bankruptcy restriction order totalling 15 years after acting in the management of a company and being subject to a director’s ban of ten years.

Mr Stephen Benjamin James Todd was handed the restriction after breaching a bankruptcy order, whilst Registrar Christine Derrett expressed that the event was one of the worst examples of disregard to the Insolvency Service that she has witnessed.

On 8 October 2012, a year before the misconduct took place, Mr Todd had been disqualified as a consequence of his actions in a previous company. The disqualification meant that he was not permitted to act as the director of a limited company or take part in the promotion, management or formation of a company for ten years.

Some time after this on 29 April 2013, Mr Todd received a bankruptcy order and on 16 December the same year, his discharge from bankruptcy was suspended indefinitely.

However, he was found to act in the management of IPR Capital Limited after the disqualification was handed to him. On 8 February 2013, the company went into provisional liquidation and on 2 February two years later, IPR Capital Limited went into liquidation with liabilities of over £10 million.

The court also found that the financial advisor failed to disclose his income from IPR (at least £517,100 from 29 April 2013 to 15 April 2014) amongst other parties in his bankruptcy proceedings. Payments were found to be placed into his bank account from other parties, which totalled £59,904.

The financial advisor stated that he had assets with an approximate value of £8,880 to the Official Receiver, yet he was found to have liabilities of over £454,107 in April 2013. Of this sum, £363,607 was due as a result of unpaid self-assessment tax, penalties and National Insurance payments.

The new restriction order means that Mr Todd must disclose his status as a person subject to bankruptcy restrictions if he wishes to take out credit of over £500, and he is subsequently unable to act as an insolvency practitioner or take part in the management of a limited company.

The restriction is in place until 13 December 3031. 

The director of OMI Partnership Limited has been disqualified for over three years for trading to the detriment of HM Revenue and Customs.

The limited company, trading as The Albion in a pub near Bristol, the director was appointed from 9th November 2004. Mr Owain George, the former landlord, has received the ban following an investigation by the Insolvency Service who discovered that he had unfairly discriminated against the Revenue and Customs body.

Mr George chose to pay other creditors in advance of the company’s VAT owed to the body for between January 2014 and 13 February 2015.

However, on the 13th February 2015, OMI Partnership Limited went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation with an estimated deficiency of £627,825 and the owner received a disqualification. There was also an outstanding VAT bill of £180,567.

Due to the disqualification, Mr. George is unable to act as a director of a company, be the receiver of a company’s property or take part in the promotion, management or formation of a limited liability partnership. The ban also means that the disqualified director is unable to be a registered social landlord and is not permitted to undertake a director, trustee or committee member of a social housing association.

The disqualification is in place until August 2020.

Senior investigator in this case, Robert Clarke, says:

“Company directors have a duty to ensure businesses meet their legal obligations, including paying taxes. Deliberate neglect of tax affairs is not a victimless action – it deprives public services of vital money and introduces unfair competition in the business market.

The Insolvency Service will investigate and take action against directors who do not comply with their obligations.”

The directors of Handmade Limited, a film company, have been disqualified for a total of 22.5 years after misleading investors and leading them them losing millions. The judge in the case called the event a “lack of candour” by the directors, and are now unable to act as the director of a limited company as a result of the disqualification.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Mr Patrick Anthony Meehan has received a ban for 13 years, David Bernard Ravden has been banned for five and a half years whilst Peter William Parkinson is under the disqualification for four years.

Handmade Limited, the company in which the dodgy investing had taken place, was a film production and international rights company formerly known as Handmade Plc.

The company was put into administration on 11 July 2012 and entered liquidation on 24 April the following year.

The three men had principal director and shareholder roles that controlled information surrounding the company’s affairs. The investigation discovered that the men involved had failed to stop the following incidents from occurring:

• Obtaining a $5m funding for a film project that had previously been cancelled, and using the money to pay off relatives of one director. The investor company invested the money into a special-purpose vehicle yet the star of the film had subsequently been injured, so the project could not go ahead.
• Disclosing all debts in an AIM prospectus to raise $17m, then expended the money on undisclosed to advisers, potential investors or shareholders.

As a result of the disqualification, neither three of the directors are able to act as the director of a limited company until their ban period has been completed. They are also unable to partake in the management, formation or promotion of a company, or be the receiver of a company’s property.