A company placed into liquidation has been investigated for failing to hand over business records to the authorities.
The Insolvency Service, which published the report, said the full nature of Cheap Flight House Limited’s activities could not be verified.
According to the report, the company was purchased by a sole director on 10 March 2017, but was placed into compulsory liquidation just 23 days later.
The business declared liabilities of £5.5 million and book debt of around £2 million from sub agents.
The director argued that outstanding funds were due as a result of flights booked by sub agents of the company.
However, due to the lack of business records, investigators could not verify the origin of the debt, for which the liability was ultimately placed on the company.
The Insolvency Service said the director had no records to show the full nature of the company’s trading activities during his appointment, and whether these were connected with bona fide trading purposes.
Likewise, the absence of any sales records meant investigators could not verify the legitimacy of air flight tickets in the sum of “at least £2 million” between 15 February and 10 March 2017 in regards to who they were booked for or who benefitted from the sales of these tickets.
The director was also unable to provide a list of flights booked, a list of customers, or sums owed to the company.
In part due to his failure to provide these essential records, the director was handed a ban of nine years, during which time he cannot become directly or indirectly involved with a limited company.
Martin Gitner of the Insolvency Service, said: “The company booked large numbers of flights, for which the company owes in excess of £2m, and has no evidence of these being purchased for bona fide business purposes
“This ban should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to take an established company, incur large liabilities for goods for which no payment is made and then fail to provide evidence of the legitimacy of the purchases.”
