Banned Luton company director caught out after Bedford company goes bust

Absolute Resource Management Limited was incorporated on 30 November 2007 and began trading in 2009 under the sole directorship of Carol Perry. The company provided IT consultancy services to businesses.

By August 2016, however, Absolute Resource Management was unable to pay its debts and appointed a liquidator to commence voluntary liquidation proceedings.

The liquidator’s report triggered an Insolvency Service investigation, which uncovered that Carol Perry’s younger brother, Keith Angus Perry (49), had been acting as a shadow director since 2010 – despite being disqualified from doing so.

Keith Perry’s original ban came into force in August 2010 for seven years following his conduct while director of Absolute Service Management (Beds) Limited. He caused that company not to maintain adequate accounting records or pay appropriate taxes.

Under his disqualification restrictions, Keith Perry should have applied to the courts for leave to act as a director of Absolute Resource Management Limited, but failed to do so.

Investigators also uncovered that Keith Perry repeated his earlier misconduct, causing Absolute Resource Management Limited not to pay its taxes in full between March 2013 and August 2016. The company eventually stopped trading owing the tax authority more than £220,000.

On 15 May 2019, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Keith Angus Perry for 11 years, commencing on 5 June 2019.

His sister Carol (51), previously signed a disqualification undertaking in July 2018 for four years after failing to ensure the company fulfilled its tax obligations.

The Perry siblings are disqualified from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Insolvent Investigations for the Insolvency Service, said: “The liquidation of Absolute Resource Management shone a light on what had been going on in the shadows, revealing that Keith Perry had been flouting his ban.

“This 11-year disqualification serves as a warning to other directors who think they can hoodwink the system that we will pursue enforcement action to stop unscrupulous behaviour.”