10 Feb

Duncan Bagshaw in important Directors Disqualification case.

Duncan Bagshaw was recently instructed by the Secretary of State for Business Industry and Skills to seek Disqualification Orders in an important case against the directors of Maple Grow Limited.

The directors of the Company had pursued a scheme of securing mortgage advances into the Company to purchase properties which were far in excess of the properties' true values, using inflated valuation reports. The properties were purchased from associates at inflated prices who acquired them simultaneously in back-to-back transactions from the open market at their true values. Over 5 million had been received by the Company in mortgage advances over the course of a few years.

By the time of the hearing, all but one of the directors of the Company had given disqualification undertakings, with terms of between 3 and 12 years. One director had failed to agree to an undertaking.

Duncan secured an order against the final director for a duration of 15 years, the maximum possible duration permitted under the Act. It is unusual to see orders given for the maximum duration and tends to show the seriousness of the case and the dim view which the Court obviously took of the director's conduct."