A former Olympic boxer who moved to the UK from Romania and set up a private transport hire firm has been disqualified as a director for seven years, after an Insolvency Service investigation found it owed HMRC over £300,000 in taxes and had not maintained adequate accounting records
Gheorghe Betianu was the sole appointed director of Riverside Group (London) Ltd (RGLL) from 1995 to the date of a creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 2016. He was also the company’s sole shareholder.
RGLL traded under the name of Media Cars and provided taxi services in the London area and private ambulance transportation to various London hospitals. RGLL went into liquidation in June 2016, with assets of £11,050 and owing an estimated £473,582 to creditors
Insolvency Service investigators found that Betianu failed to ensure that RGLL maintained adequate accounting records and caused RGLL to trade to the detriment of HMRC. At liquidation HMRC were owed at least £343,664 for PAYE/NIC and VAT.
Aldona O’Hara, investigation leader, insolvent investigations Midlands & West at the Insolvency Service, said: ‘Directors have a duty to ensure that their companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency.
‘Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged his duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety.
‘In addition, directors who fail to ensure that HMRC are treated on an equal basis with other classes of creditor gain an unfair advantage over those companies who pay their taxes correctly and on time. They can expect to be investigated by the Insolvency Service and enforcement action taken to remove them from the market place.’
Report by Pat Sweet
