Angel Contracting director breached legal obligations by failing to maintain adequate accounting records
Stephen Joseph John Mason, 45, from Edinburgh has been disqualified as a director for six years.
He was director of Angel Contracting Ltd, a recruitment agency specialising in providing contractors to the construction industry. The company was incorporated in 2017 but went into liquidation two years later.
At this point the Insolvency Practitioner made repeated requests for the company’s accounts and other records, in order to carry out their statutory duties to determine whether there was any misconduct that had led to the company’s failure and debts.
The records were not forthcoming and the subsequent Insolvency Service investigation therefore could not whether expenditure of nearly £5.5 million from the company’s bank account was legitimate business spending. The investigation identified £16,500 paid to an unknown individual, cash withdrawals totalling nearly £6,000 and £3,000 in cheque payments.
Similarly, it was not possible to confirm that the income, also of nearly £5.5 million, recorded in the company’s bank account, was from genuine business sales.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Stephen Mason after he accepted failing to maintain or preserve adequate accounting records. His ban commences on 4 April 2022.
The disqualification undertaking prevents him from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator at The Insolvency Service said:
Notes to Editors
Stephen Joseph John Mason is of Edinburgh and his date of birth is October 1976.
Angel Contracting Limited company number – SC577815
A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.
Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.
Information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct