The director of a prestigious London restaurant has been disqualified for a further 12 years after an Insolvency Service investigation found he was acting as a director while already disqualified, had failed to pay £1.3m due to HMRC, and was abusing a company’s banking facilities
Marios Georgallides accepted the ban on the second day of a scheduled seven day High Court trial in November, after legal arguments by his legal counsel had failed.
The Insolvency Service investigation concerned Eastzest Ltd which was placed in creditors voluntary liquidation in June 2011. The company took over the trading of the Knightsbridge Japanese restaurant, Nozomi, in July 2009 with Marcello Santese as its only recorded director, Georgallides having resigned as a director in March 2009.
However, the Insolvency Service said overwhelming evidence showed Georgallides remained in control as a director throughout its trading until liquidation on 8 June 2011.
Georgallides had previously been disqualified as a director for six years in February 2010 but retained ownership through various family trusts and remained a signatory to the bank account until March 2011, when the bank discovered his disqualification. During that period, he signed over 1200 cheques.
At liquidation, the company owed nearly £1.3m to HMRC in relation to arrears of VAT, PAYE and National Insurance Contributions having only paid £111,500 of the debt due during trading. During its trading period, the company issued cheques and direct debit payments which were not met on 1065 occasions with a total value of £1,018,068, incurring £29,700 in bank charges.
On his disqualification, Georgallides became the second director of the company to face a directorship ban. Proceedings were also brought against Santese, and he accepted an undertaking for five years the day before the trial.
Mark Bruce, chief investigator with the Insolvency Service said: ‘Mr Georgallides effectively ignored his first disqualification and carried on as the main director of this prestigious restaurant. He must have realised during the trial, that the weight of evidence was heavily against him and threw in the towel.
‘I was involved in the investigation of his previous companies and Mr Georgallides has a repeated history of non-payment of his various companies’ crown debts and abuse of the banking facilities. He displays exactly the sort of behaviour that gives some directors a bad name and a 12 year ban reflects how serious the Insolvency Service views his attitude to business.’
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