A British businessman based in Spain has been disqualified from acting as a director for eight years for failing to keep adequate accounting records following an Insolvency Service (IS) investigation into failed supplier Cresta Furniture Ltd (Cresta).

Lancashire-based Cresta went into administration on 18 Feb 2010 owing £1,145,277 to creditors and leaving a large number of customers missing the furniture they had ordered.

David Topping had resigned as a director of Cresta on 30 June 2008, transferring the entire shareholding to his Cyprus registered company. Following this transfer, a Paul Vella of Malta was appointed director.

The IS investigation found detailed evidence that despite having resigned, Topping continued to be in control of Cresta acting through others via email and phone. Vella had no involvement in the running of the company and had allowed his name to be used for a fee. He was disqualified for two and a half years on 24 October 2011 in relation to his involvement in the company.

The IS investigation also found that Topping had failed to ensure that Cresta kept adequate accounting records as required by law. The administrators had initially been unable to locate the company stock or the computer server. When the server was finally produced, it only contained records as far as 2005.

As a result, the administrators could only identify ££56,344 of the outstanding £266,666 of customer deposits for furniture. They were unable to verify the amounts Topping and a former director owed to the company in the Directors' Loan Account, which was overdrawn by £233,817 as at 30 June 2008. They also could not verify the company's acquisition of stock, sales and the disposal of stock between 1 July 2008 and the date of administration.

Claire Entwistle, IS director of company investigations North said: 'Directors cannot expect to hide behind others in order to disguise their role in running a company. Actions such as these are serious misconduct and customers have lost significant amounts of money.'