A company has been shut down after its director failed to keep adequate records of almost all of the transactions made during his tenure.
Amandeep Singh Lalli was the sole director of Pioneer Traders (UK) Limited between October 2009 and April 2015.
After the firm was placed into liquidation, an investigation was carried out to determine the extent of the company’s liabilities to creditors.
The Insolvency Service, which led the inquiry, found that the director had failed to maintain and/or preserve adequate trading records of the stock held by the company, or of the cash transactions. The report says it could not determine the extent of purchases, sales, income, and expenditure, as well as excise and VAT.
At assessment, HM Revenue & Customs judged that Mr Lalli made wrongful declarations for VAT totalling £285,848.
The investigation could also not account for the acquisition and disposal of assets, or establish the level of remuneration and other benefits taken by the director.
Tony Hannon, the Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit South, part of 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 such records, 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 October, the High Court banned Mr Lalli from acting as a director of a company for 11 years.
