Bluethorne Trading Limited was wound up in the public interest at the High Court on 20 November 2018, with the Official Receiver appointed as liquidator.
The company claimed to be an interior design business, operating from an office in Medway, Kent.
But the Insolvency Service was made aware of complaints about Bluethorne Trading and following an investigation, the High Court ordered the company be put into provisional liquidation on 28 September following a petition presented by the Secretary of State.
It was discovered that the company relied on false and inflated accounts to give the impression it was a profitable business in order to apply for credit for a wide variety of products, some not typically associated with their stated business.
Investigators found no evidence that the company ever carried out any legitimate business to support the accounts filed with the Registrar of Companies and Bluethorne Trading failed to co-operate with enquiries, providing further evidence that they couldn’t back-up their activities.
In making his ruling, Judge Jones found that the company’s 2017 and 2018 accounts were false and applications made on the back of those accounts were also fraudulent.
Judge Jones added that the conduct of the company and its officers was wrong and ‘such conduct cannot be allowed to continue’.
Irshard Mohammed, Case Manager for the Insolvency Service, said:
The company was used as a vehicle for the fraudulent application for credit relying on the false accounts filed to make the company appear a good credit risk.
These winding-up proceedings show that we will use the full weight of our powers to take firm action against companies that operate in such an unscrupulous way.
All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 020 7637 1110; email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.
The registered office of Bluethorne Trading Limited, registration number 09532254, is now at the office of The Official Receiver, at Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT.
Farid Hachimi is the current recorded director of the company.
The petition was presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986. The Official Receiver was appointed as provisional liquidator of the company on 28 September 2018 by Judge Jones.
Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Further information about live company investigations can be found here.
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. The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession; 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 is available here.
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