The Insolvency Service has reported that Andrea Manson, convener of Shetland Islands Council, has been disqualified as a company director for three and a half years following the liquidation of Mid Brae Inn Limited in May 2023. Mid Brae Inn owed £170,860 in taxes to HMRC, comprising £110,675 in unpaid VAT and surcharges and £59,227 in PAYE and National Insurance contributions. The company failed to make VAT payments between April 2019 and January 2023 despite continuing to trade and receiving more than £800,000 in its bank account, with only £6,000 paid to HMRC. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Manson, which takes effect on 25 February 2026. The disqualification prevents Manson from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company without court permission.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Fazle Masum, director of Unique Enterprise Ltd, was disqualified from acting as a company director for eight years. The order was made at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 8 June 2026 and took effect on 29 June 2026. Border Force officers intercepted the shipment of raw tobacco at Grangemouth in January 2022, concealed in vacuum-sealed tins disguised as furniture. Unique Enterprise Ltd did not hold the HMRC approval required to handle raw tobacco, a legal requirement in the UK since 2017. The company was issued with a £152,980 penalty following an HMRC investigation, and subsequently entered liquidation owing almost £175,000, nearly all of it the unpaid penalty.

The Insolvency Service has reported an eight-year directorship ban on Scott Dylan following High Court proceedings in Manchester. Dylan served as director of IT consultancy SDRW Limited between July 2013 and July 2015 while under an active bankruptcy order dating from July 2005. The disqualification will commence on 26 September 2025 and continue until 2033. The case arose after an investigation by the Insolvency Service revealed that Dylan continued his directorship activities despite having submitted paperwork confirming termination in July 2014. In a separate matter, Dylan was sentenced to 22 months in prison in October 2024 for contempt of court, pertaining to breaches of Barclays Bank freezing orders. Investigations into Dylan conducted by the Insolvency Service remain ongoing.

The Insolvency Service reports that Basic Prime Limited was wound up following an investigation that revealed fraud concerns. The company, which purported to offer trade finance guarantees and credit enhancement services, received US$231,000 (approximately £175,000) from a client in May 2024 for arranging a US$500m financial guarantee. However, it failed to deliver the promised services and ceased communication with the client by September 2024. Basic Prime Limited was never registered as a financial services provider with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The investigation further uncovered that the company had no genuine business presence at its registered address in Croydon, maintained non-operational contact details, and had a director who did not provide the requested information or documents. Despite receiving the client fee and misrepresenting its banking arrangements, the company filed dormant accounts. The Official Receiver has now been appointed as the liquidator of Basic Prime Limited.

The Insolvency Service has reported that McKenzie Jones Associates, a company that falsely claimed to offer early resolution services for Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), has been shut down. The firm was found to have charged fees for helping customers end their IVAs early without being registered with the Financial Conduct Authority to provide debt advice. The company collected at least £54,900 in fees for this service, with no evidence of promised refunds being made.

The Insolvency Service has secured convictions against five individuals involved in a £500,000 complex fraud and money laundering scheme. The fraud centred around ‘invoice factoring agreements’ between financial services institutions and the companies. Ringleader and convicted fraudster, Neale Rothera, was jailed for six years and four months and disqualified as a company director for nine years.

The Insolvency Service reported that Eric Agyeman has been sentenced to two years and two months after fraudulently obtaining £130,000 through three separate bounce back loan (BBL) applications in 2020. Agyeman pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering after fabricating turnover figures for his non-trading company DOK Logistics UK Ltd. He transferred £44,415 of the funds to purchase goods for export to Ghana. The 46-year-old London resident has also been disqualified as a company director for five years, with the Insolvency Service now seeking to recover the fraudulently obtained funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA 2002).

The Insolvency Service has reported that John Barnes, former England and Liverpool footballer, has been disqualified as a director for 3.5 years after his company failed to pay tens of thousands of pounds in both VAT and corporation tax. Between November 2018 and October 2020, the company’s turnover was £441,798 but nothing was paid to HMRC in tax during that period. When the company went into liquidation in 2023, the Insolvency Service investigations revealed that Barnes owed more than £190,000 taxes.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Suzanne Harley-Davies has been disqualified as a company director for four years after failing to exercise proper control over the affairs of Namare GRP Ltd and TPG GRP Limited and to ensure that the companies operated for legitimate corporate purposes. Harley-Davies served as director of the two companies during 2023 and 2024, both of which were involved in supporting the Atherton scheme. Under the scheme, directors paid fees ranging from £5,000 to £20,000 to have their companies sold for £1 and transferred to new owners, allowing the original directors to avoid company debts and formal insolvency processes. Namare GRP Ltd and TPG GRP Limited entered compulsory liquidation in August 2024 following Insolvency Service investigations. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Harley-Davies, preventing her from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company without court permission. The action follows previous disqualifications of other individuals involved in the scheme, including nine-year and seven-year bans imposed on co-directors Neville Taylor, Karen Mortimer and Joanna Seawright.

The Insolvency Service has reported the disqualification of Callum Jones, director of Colourcoat Ltd, for a period of four years following an investigation into the company's nuisance cold-calling practices. The Sussex-based firm made nearly one million unsolicited marketing calls between August 2019 and April 2020, targeting individuals who had registered with the Telephone Preference Service. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) had previously fined the company £130,000 for breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Colourcoat Ltd entered liquidation in June 2023, having paid only £74,000 of the fine.

The Insolvency Service has reported that, Rian O'Keeffe, aged 28, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years for falsely stating a £312,000 turnover for a company that does not exist to secure a bounce back loan (BBL) in July 2020. O'Keeffe then used the funds for general living expenses where he made more than 150 transfers to two personal accounts between August and October 2020. Furthermore, O'Keeffe was declared bankrupt in November 2021 and accepted a 12-year bankruptcy restrictions undertaking in October 2022.

The Insolvency Service has reported that Emra Kayam, director of a fruit and veg retailer, has been disqualified for seven years after improperly investing more than half of a bounce back loan (BBL) on the stock market when it should have been used for his business. Kayam also transferred part of the loan to his personal bank account and said he used some of the funds to repay debts to his friends. Kayam's ban started on 30 April 2024.