Press release: 13 year disqualification for director over company’s VAT evasion

Mr Shakoor’s disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service into the liquidation of Raptor Commerce Ltd.

Between 5 December 2005 and 31 May 2006, Mr Shakoor caused or allowed Raptor to participate in transactions which were connected with the fraudulent evasion of VAT, which Mr Shakoor either knew or should have known about.

Mr Shakoor caused Raptor to make a wrongful claim of a VAT repayment for the period ending May 2006 totalling £1,224,134.

Tony Hannon, the Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit South, part of the Insolvency Service said:

The Insolvency Service will take firm action when we find misconduct and wrongdoing in the operation of companies by directors.

The Insolvency Service is committed to protecting the integrity and confidence in the market both by consumers and business people alike.

Mr Naeem Shakoor, is of Glasgow and his date of birth is January 1972.

Raptor Commerce Ltd (Company Reg no. 04489352) was incorporated on 18 July 2002 and ordered into compulsory liquidation on 9 September 2013.

The order was pronounced by Mr Registrar Jones and the Secretary of State was represented by Camilla Chorfi of Selborne Chambers and the defendant was not present or represented.

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, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, 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.

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