Papa John's Pizza franchise director handed seven year disqualification

Balwinder Singh, a director of a Papa John's Pizza franchise restaurant in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, has been disqualified for payments made to a partnership that he had a personal interest in.

 

Singh was the sole registered director of Charnwood Foods, which traded as Papa John's Pizza in Bromsgrove March 2014 to March 2015.

 

An investigation by the Insolvency Service found that Singh unreasonably caused payments of at least £205,000 to the partnership he had a personal interest in.

 

On 5 July 2017, Balwinder Singh gave a disqualification undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which prevents him from managing or controlling a company until 30 July 2024.

 

Charnwood Foods went into liquidation on 26 August 2015 with no assets, owing an estimated £358,816 to creditors of which £308,233 was owed to a bank in respect of bank loans.

 

Singh breached his duties as director of Charnwood Foods in that he unreasonably caused payments totalling at least £205,000 to be made to a partnership in which he had a personal interest. These payments were at the risk of, and to the detriment of, Charnwood Foods, and its creditors failed to deliver adequate accounting records to show that such payments were reasonable.

 

Aldona O'Hara, investigation leader, Insolvent Investigations Midlands and West at the Insolvency Service, said: "Directors have a duty to ensure that their companies maintain proper accounting records, and, following insolvency, deliver them to the office-holder in the interests of fairness and transparency. Without a full account of transactions it is impossible to determine whether a director has discharged his duties properly, or is using a lack of documentation as a cloak for impropriety.

 

"This disqualification will prevent a repeat occurrence of this and act as a deterrent to any other directors who are thinking of putting their own interests before that of their company's creditors."

 

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