Ajaz Manan Din Mir was the registered director of Emerald City Ltd, which traded as Anokha Indian Bar and Restaurant.

Proceedings were brought by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy against Mir however he failed to show up at court. Therefore he was handed a seven year disqualification and ordered to pay costs of £4,230.

Mir provided some accounting records to the liquidator however these were inadequate. It was not possible to verify what the total takings were including those made by cash and whether over £300,000 paid out from the company’s bank accounts related to bona fide business expenditure.

No wage records were provided so it was impossible to establish the position with regards to employees and tax due.

Emerald City had also failed to submit a number of VAT returns to HMRC amounting to £129,000 and no annual accounts were filed to Companies House.

From September 2013 onwards, a total in excess of £332,000 was paid out from the accounts, of which, nothing was paid to HMRC in respect of the arrears of the VAT debt.

Lawrence Zussman, deputy head of investigations with the Insolvency Service said: ‘The period of this disqualification sends a clear message that this kind of behaviour from company directors will not be tolerated. Company directors have a statutory duty under the Companies Act to keep adequate company records which should satisfactorily explain payments.’

Report by Amy Austin