An engineering boss from Aberdeen who was already serving a ban has had his disqualification increased by the court after he was found running a new company and continuing to fail to make payments due to HMRC
In January 2016 David Stuart received a six-year ban following the liquidation of Nabscaff Ltd of which he was the sole director. He was disqualified for failing to maintain company books and records.
However, he went on to start a new company, Tern Engineering Services Ltd (TES), which provided engineering services to the oil and gas industry. The court heard that between January 2016 and September 2016, Stuart continued to act as director of the company despite knowing his ban prevented him from doing so.
Following TES’s being wound-up in September 2016, an Insolvency Service investigation found Stuart had allowed liabilities to accrue to HMRC while making unreasonable payments to himself and gambling accounts, when he was already disqualified and the company was significantly insolvent and under creditor pressure.
The company received an income of at least £9,999 per month in the six months up to December 2015 but in January and February 2016 after Stuart’s initial disqualification order, only £1,250 was received.
During March and April 2016, receipts totalling £34,770 were received into the company bank account, of which £6,000 was withdrawn by Stuart. While £9,300 was paid to gambling accounts owned by him and payments to unknown payees totalling £17,010 were made, no payments were made to HMRC.
By January 2016, HMRC was owed £57,587 accruing since at least June 2015. HMRC was also the sole creditor in respect of the previous company (Nabscaff), in the sum of £115,472, to which the previous disqualification order related.
Stuart was aware of his existing disqualification even though he did not attend court for the disqualification proceedings and at a court hearing in Aberdeen Sheriff Court in August 2018, the sheriff granted a disqualification order against Stuart, for 11 years. Again, he did not attend.
Robert Clarke, head of insolvent investigations north at the Insolvency Service said: ‘Mr Stuart has paid scant regard to the previous finding that he was unfit to run a company and not only breached that ban but continued to put his own personal financial interests above those of and the company’s creditors.
‘This sort of behaviour damages confidence in doing business and is corrosive to the health of the local economy.’
Report by Pat Sweet
