A man has received the maximum ban possible after breaching the terms of his company disqualification, the Insolvency Service has revealed.
Valdek Hetman, from Nottinghamshire, was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to undertake 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £750 in costs.
In 2016, the former director accepted a disqualification order that prevented him from running further companies for a period of 10 years.
The order restricted Mr Hetman from directly or indirectly running a company. But despite this, it was found that the construction boss continued to run companies “in direct contravention of the disqualification undertaking he had personally signed”.
An investigation found that Mr Hetman had been running two construction companies, one of which closely resembled a company which was placed into compulsory liquidation in March 2015, sharing the same banned name.
Mr Hetman also committed further offences when trading use the name Abbey Construction East Midlands, which was deemed too similar to another banned name and “allowed them to benefit from association”.
A second man, known as Brendon Doherty, also received a five-year disqualification order for assisting Mr Hetman in carrying out his offences, essentially acting as a “front-man” for the illicit firms.
Commenting on the case, Arwel Jones, Director of Criminal Enforcement for the Insolvency Service, said: “We were able to demonstrate in spite of Valdek Hetman’s assertions, he was clearly running those companies, while his accomplice Brendon Doherty knew exactly was going when he played Hetman’s front-man.
“Our actions should serve as a warning that running a company while serving a ban is a serious offence that will land you in further trouble.”
