Directors banned over false banking
06 September 2010Two directors of a group of companies that claimed to sell financial and other business opportunities to people with poor credit histories have been disqualified from acting on the board of any firm for a total of 16 years.
The action comes after Christopher Lake and Stephen Knight, who ran Charter Financial Solutions Limited, Charter Financial Solutions (UK) Limited, Finance Select (UK) Limited, Bounce World Limited and Trash Express Limited, were the subject of an Insolvency Service investigation.
The probe found the men falsely stated they had never been associated with a business that had a court order of a debt registered against it when seeking a bank account for Finance Select (UK) Limited.
All the companies, based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, were ordered into liquidation on the grounds of public interest on May 22, 2009.
Commenting on the case, Stephen Speed, chief executive of The Insolvency Service, said: "Companies providing deliberately misleading information to lenders and potential investors is serious misconduct and it undermines the confidence the public have in business.
"I hope the disqualification periods secured in this case sends a clear and simple message to other company directors. The Insolvency Service has strong enforcement powers and we will not hesitate to use them to remove dishonest or reckless people from the business environment."
Copyright Press Association 2010
