Three directors of former Devon-based waste business Bionova Recycling Ltd have been disqualified from acting in the management of a company, following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
The disqualification undertakings come after two of the now defunct firm’s directors obtained a £250,000 loan by false pretences.
Bionova Recycling Ltd was based in Okehampton, Devon
Frederick Arthur Bartlett and Clive Victor Tayton have entered into disqualification undertakings, which prohibit them from acting in the management of a company for the next 10 years.
Another director, Aaron Custance, also entered into undertakings and has been disqualified from running a company for eight years.
The firm and its assets – which went into administration in April 2014 – were subsequently bought by Irish-based organics recycling business Harp Renewables during 2014. This new company, which operates out of Exeter Business Park, is known as BioNova UK and is not connected to Bionova Recycling.
Bionova Recycling
Based in Okehampton, Bionova Recycling Ltd sold and installed digester equipment for converting food waste into biofuel. The firm was incorporated in 1999 but went into administration in April 2014.
In 2013, the business borrowed a £250,000 loan which comprised public funds, on condition by the lender that the company had already put up the same amount in matched funding.
To create the evidence that they had invested this money, the directors borrowed £50,000 from an associate and passed it repeatedly through the company’s bank accounts before paying it back, according to the Insolvency Service.
Directors at Bionova Recycling then used bank statements showing all the receipts but not the repayments to persuade the lender that the matched funding had been met – when in reality they had introduced no matched funding at all.
The company went into administration the following year, with the administrators receiving creditors’ claims of £970,000. The loan, which had already been made out by the lender, was not repaid, the Insolvency Service explained.
The loan contained EU funding
The loan was provided by South West Investment Group (Capital) Ltd and comprised public funds from the EU and central and local government. Its website states that the Group delivers loan finance to the South West region to small and medium-sized enterprises and “can say yes when the banks say no”.
Bartlett
Although the loan application was submitted before Mr Bartlett was formally appointed on 1 June 2013, an investigation by the Insolvency Service found he had been involved in the provision of misleading information to the lender.
A three and a half year disqualification was also accepted by Mrs Marilyn Anne Bartlett, Mr Bartlett’s wife.
While Mrs Bartlett was not a director of Bionova Recycling Ltd, she was a director of Nergetic Renewables Ltd – another recycling firm which had obtained a smaller loan of £50,000 in a similar manner from the same lender.
“These are serious cases in which the directors deliberately misled the lender into making loans that it would not have made if it had known the companies’ true positions.”
Sue MacLeod, chief investigator
Insolvency Service
The Hampshire-based waste business, of which Mr and Mrs Bartlett were serving as directors, was established in 2002 as a waste and recycling consultancy. It was liquidated in November 2014.
Investigation
Sue MacLeod, chief investigator of Insolvent Investigations, Midlands & West at the Insolvency Service, said: “These are serious cases in which the directors deliberately misled the lender into making loans that it would not have made if it had known the companies’ true positions. The directors made misrepresentations that they had introduced money into the companies when in fact they had not.
“There is no place in the business community for such behaviour and the Insolvency Service and The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will take firm action to protect the public in appropriate cases.”
Biotechnical Energy Ltd
Mr Tayton and Mr Custance are now employed at Biotechnical Energy Ltd in Okehampton, Devon, where they serve as technical sales and engineering and head of product development respectively.
The business, which is in no way connected to Bionova Recycling Ltd, was established in 2010 and tailors food waste digester solutions for catering and retail companies and schools.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Mr Custance said he had voluntarily agreed to the disqualification with the Insolvency Service.
He emphasised that disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order, but do not involve court proceedings.
Mr Custance added that he felt the terms of the disqualification were “not really fair” as he has not been charged in a court of law. He said: “I do intend to take this up again with the Insolvency Service once I have obtained a not guilty verdict.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
