A travel company boss who failed to keep adequate records to account for £3m of business has been disqualified from being a director for eight years following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Asim Bukhari was the director of Sky Masters Travel Ltd a travel agent based in Wembley, North London which went into liquidation owing £428,134. During the liquidation the Air Travel Trust submitted a proof of debt for £391,643 for refunds to passengers who were unable to travel.

The Insolvency Service investigation found that the absence of sufficient accounting books and records made it impossible to determine whether £3,105,394 paid into the company's bank account constituted all the company's trading income and if all the amounts due to Sky Masters had been paid in full at liquidation.

It was also not possible to verify the purpose of payments of £3,075,479 out of Sky Masters' bank account and whether those payments were genuine company expenditure, or to determine the employment status and details of Sky Masters' workforce, and whether Sky Masters should have been registered with HMRC for PAYE for these workers.

The Insolvency Service could not establish whether Sky Masters was making any PAYE deductions, or incurring any PAYE and NIC tax liabilities, or what its VAT status was.

Mark Bruce, an Insolvency Service chief examiner , said: 'Keeping proper records is a vital duty for directors and there is no place in the business environment for those who neglect their responsibilities in this area. The lack of records in this case made it impossible to explain the company's trading and for the Civil Aviation Authority to deal with all passenger claims. As a result some passenger claims were rejected and they have been left out of pocket.'