{"id":65818,"date":"2015-12-22T14:39:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T14:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=3996ce088f747110e03b81a078b09fcf"},"modified":"2015-12-22T14:39:22","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T14:39:22","slug":"press-release-director-who-allowed-his-company-to-be-used-in-financial-fraud-hit-with-8-year-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=65818","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Director who allowed his company to be used in financial fraud hit with 8 year ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The disqualification, from 7 December 2015, prevents Mr Wakefield from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for the duration of the term. <\/p>\n<p>An Insolvency Service investigation found Mr Wakefield signed up to a factoring agreement and allowed sales invoices totaling over \u00a3400,000 to be assigned to the factoring company, who advanced over \u00a3240,000 to Wakefield Trading Ltd.<\/p>\n<p>When the factoring company attempted to collect the monies due, it was unable to collect the vast majority of the cash as most of the \u201ccustomers\u201d were unable to be located.<\/p>\n<p>Money paid into the company\u2019s bank account by the factoring company was either withdrawn in cash or paid to unknown recipients directly, for which Mr Wakefield was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation.<\/p>\n<p>No records for Wakefield Trading Ltd have been delivered up by Mr Wakefield to the Liquidator, as he is required to do, contending that these are in the possession of a third party. <\/p>\n<p>Commenting on the disqualification, Robert Clarke, Investigations Group Leader at the Insolvency Service said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Company Directors should note that if they allow their company to be used by a third party for potentially criminal activities the Insolvency Service will vigorously investigate such cases and they will be subject to a long period of disqualification.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Furthermore, directors should be aware of their requirement to maintain proper accounting records and, in the event of insolvency, to deliver these up to the Liquidator.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">In this particular case, Mr Wakefield allowed himself to be manipulated by another and must now suffer the consequences of his own inaction.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h4 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors<\/h4>\n<p>Mr Wakefield\u2019s date of birth is 15 July 1970 and he resides in Leicestershire. <\/p>\n<p>Wakefield Trading Ltd (CRO No. 08127688) was incorporated on 3 July 2012 and traded from rented premises at Unit 1a, Global House, Hillside Farm, Rempstone Road, Wymeswold,  Leicestershire LE12 6UB.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Wakefield was an appointed director from incorporation. The company ceased trading 2 January 2013 and entered Creditors\u2019 Voluntary Liquidation on 26 November 2013 with liabilities totaling \u00a3273,004.80. <\/p>\n<p>On 16 November 2015, the Secretary of State accepted a Disqualification Undertaking from Simon Wakefield, effective from 7 December 2015, for a period of 8 years. The matters of unfitness, which Mr Wakefield did not dispute in the Disqualification Undertaking were that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>between 3 July 2012 and 2 January 2013 he allowed Wakefield Trading Ltd to breach the terms of a Receivables Finance Agreement to the detriment of the Receivables Finance company<\/li>\n<li>he failed to ensure that Wakefield Trading Ltd preserved, maintained and\/or delivered up adequate accounting records to the Liquidator for the period 3 July 2012 to 2 January 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>act as a director of a company<\/li>\n<li>take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership<\/li>\n<li>be a receiver of a company\u2019s property<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition that person cannot act as an insolvency practitioner and there are many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations. <\/p>\n<p>Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Further information on director disqualifications and restrictions is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/information-about-company-director-disqualification\">available<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice. <\/p>\n<p>Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/insolvency-service\">available<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"contact-press-office\">Contact Press Office<\/h2>\n<p>Media enquiries for this press release \u2013 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact postal-address\" id=\"contact_2691\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Press Office<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<p class=\"adr\">\n<span class=\"street-address\">The Insolvency Service<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"locality\">4 Abbey Orchard Street <\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"region\">London<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"postal-code\">SW1P 2HT<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:press.office@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk\">press.office@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Media Manager<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7596 6187\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"comments\">For all media enquiries outside normal working hours, please contact the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Press Office on 020 7215 3234\/3505. <\/p>\n<p>This service is for journalists only. For any other queries, please contact the Insolvency Service switchboard on 020 7637 1110.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/insolvencygovuk\">Twitter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/3226944?trk=tyah&amp;trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2Cidx%3A2-2-5%2CtarId%3A1437038215788%2Ctas%3Ainsolvency%20service\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcLiLoFYKt6sLLafxk1AplQ\">YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simon Wakefield, the sole appointed director of Wakefield Trading Ltd has been disqualified from acting as a director for eight years for allowing a known criminal to perpetuate a fraud on a financial institution and for failing to maintain or deliver up the company\u2019s accounting records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}