The Attorney General, Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP, has announced the reappointment of Kevin McGinty CBE as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

Mr McGinty’s term was due to finish on 31 March 2019 but the Attorney General has extended his appointment for a further 2 years.

The role is subject to scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee, and the Committee has been consulted and fully supports the reappointment.

Commenting on the announcement, Attorney General, Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP said:

I am pleased to announce the reappointment of Mr McGinty as Chief Inspector. Kevin McGinty has proven himself as a strong leader and Chief Inspector during his four years in the role, who has tackled important and difficult issues, such as disclosure of evidence by the police and prosecutors. I look forward to working with him over the next couple of years.

Commenting on the announcement, Kevin McGinty said:

I’d like to thank the Attorney General for supporting my mandate to tackle important issues such as CPS performance, and for extending my appointment for a further two years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as inspector of the prosecutors, so I am delighted to be continuing as Chief Inspector. HMCPSI’s work is crucial to ensuring the quality of our criminal justice system and I will continue to ensure my team delivers a high quality inspection programme.

Kevin McGinty CBE was appointed in April 2015 by the previous Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, on a fixed four year term. His current tenure was due to end on 31 March 2019.

Mr McGinty’s tenure will now last until March 2021. At this point, it is expected that an external recruitment process to select a new Chief Inspector would be launched by the Attorney General’s Office.

Sunil Kumar Ralhan (37) appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on 5 October 2018 and in addition to the court-ordered disqualification for 7 years, the company director received a 9-month prison sentence.

The court heard that Sunil Ralhan was the sole director of Travelogue Ltd from November 2014, having bought the travel agency from its former director.

However, the company was placed in liquidation in May 2015 after it failed to recover payments from travel agents based abroad who had bought tickets through Travelogue. The travel agency was later dissolved in February 2017.

Independent insolvency practitioners were appointed to take charge of liquidating the company but Sunil Ralhan had failed to keep adequate accounting records, while also failing to share them with the insolvency practitioners and later, investigators from the Insolvency Service.

Failure to deliver information requested by the liquidator while winding up a company is evidence of misconduct and in Sunil Ralhan’s case, it would have helped explain a deficiency in the liquidation of close to £380,000 that was owed primarily to a single creditor of Travelogue.

Glenn Wicks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

“As the director of the company, albeit on behalf of others, this man was responsible for keeping books and records. By not providing them he covered up what was almost certainly a fraud and that is why he received this imprisonment.”

At an earlier hearing, Sunil Ralhan accepted that he failed to keep accounting records that were sufficient to show and explain the transactions of the company.

Sunil Ralhan is from Birmingham and was born in August 1981.

Travelogue Limited (company no. 07705471) was incorporated on 14 July 2011.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Today (Thursday, 25 October), the Prime Minister has confirmed the appointments of Lord Bew as Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and Lord Evans of Weardale as the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

The appointments follow open recruitment exercises, including pre-appointment scrutiny by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Lord Bew

Lord Bew is the current Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Professor of Irish Politics at Queen’s University Belfast and former historical adviser to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. He was appointed as a crossbench peer in 2007 following his contributions to the Belfast Agreement.

The Minister for Implementation, Oliver Dowden MP, welcomed Lord Bew’s appointment:

Lord Bew has demonstrated his dedication to ensuring diversity in appointments in his post as Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. I welcome his clear commitment to the principle that the membership of the House of Lords should better reflect the nation.

The Minister also took the opportunity to thank Lord Bew’s predecessor, Lord Kakkar:

Lord Kakkar’s steady handling of the Commission has been vital to the continued integrity of the appointments process. His advice and approach have been hugely valued.

The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) has two main functions:

• to recommend individuals for appointment as non-party-political life peers
• to vet nominations for life peers, including those nominated by the UK political parties, to ensure the highest standards of propriety

The Commission’s Chair is appointed for a non-renewable, five-year term of office. More information about the Commission can be found on the House of Lords Appointments Commission website.

Lord Evans of Weardale

Lord Evans of Weardale is the new Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, to fill the position left vacant by Lord Bew. Lord Evans spent 33 years in the UK Security Service, six as Director General, when he was a senior advisor to the UK government on national security policy and a member of the Prime Minister’s National Security Council. Lord Evans was appointed as a crossbench peer for his contribution to public service in 2014.

Minister Dowden also welcomed Lord Evans’ appointment:

The Committee on Standards in Public Life contributes to the maintenance of the diversity, integrity, and vibrancy of representative democracy in the UK. Lord Evans has demonstrated all the skills necessary for this sensitive post, including the highest integrity and an understanding of the issues of standards in public life.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life is an advisory non-departmental public body. Its purpose is to examine areas of concern about the standards of conduct of public office holders, advise the Prime Minister accordingly, and to promote the highest standards of conduct in public life. More information about the Committee can be found on the Committee on Standards in Public Life GOV.UK page.

The Committee has eight members:

• a chair and four independent members are appointed by the Prime Minister, following open competition for a non-renewable, five year term of office
• three members are appointed on the recommendation of the leaders of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats

Both roles were advertised on the Centre for Public Appointments website, which sets out further details of the appointments.