Two directors of a company which marketed tax avoidance schemes have been disqualified for a combined nine years for moving assets out of the reach of creditors.
Timothy Richard Edmunds has been disqualified from acting as a director for five years and Annette Edmunds has been disqualified for four years.
Mr and Mrs Edmunds were directors of ESP Strategies Ltd, which went into liquidation on 25 November 2015.
The investigation found Swansea-based ESP Strategies Ltd had entered in to a tax avoidance scheme involving the issue of shares totalling £240,000 to directors which were only partly paid for.
Mr and Mrs Edmunds agreed to a number of transactions ending with the surrender of the shares, which resulted in £230,400 of uncalled share capital becoming unavailable.
The transactions took place at a time when the directors knew the company had an outstanding debt to HM Revenue & Customs, the sole creditor in the liquidation, with a claim of £133,245.
Sue MacLeod, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “If your business engages in transactions in the run up to liquidation which are detrimental to any of its creditors, the Insolvency Service may investigate you, leading to your removal from the business environment.”
On 17 July 2017, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted disqualification undertakings from Timothy Richard Edmunds and Annette Edmunds, with effect from 7 August 2017.
damian.fantato@ft.com
