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Jawwad Ansar was the sole director of Cheap Flight House Limited (CFH). The company was incorporated on 8 November 2010 before being purchased by Jawwad Ansar on 15 February 2017, the same day he took over as sole director of the company.

However, the company went into liquidation on 10 March 2017, 23 days after Mr Ansar took over the company, having traded since 2010 with declared creditors of £5.5m and a declared book debt of £2m due from sub agents.

Jawwad Ansar told investigators from the Insolvency Service, who were looking into the affairs of the company following liquidation, that outstanding funds were due as a result of flights booked by sub agents of the company.

But further enquiries found that Jawwad Ansar had no business records to show:

• the full nature of the company’s trading activities during his appointment, and whether these were connected with bona fide trading purposes
• in the absence of any sales records, verification regarding air flight tickets in the sum of at least £2 million between 15 February and 10 March 2017 who they were booked for or on behalf of and who benefitted from these tickets
• whether book debts for the sum of £2 million declared by Mr Ansar to be owed by him were legitimately owed and if so, whether these funds were recoverable

Furthermore, Jawwad Ansar was unable to supply a list of flights booked, a list of customers, and did not provide any breakdown of the sums owed to the company.

As a result, in May 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Jawwad Ansar after he admitted failing to maintain or preserve, or in the alternative deliver up, adequate accounting records.

Effective from 14 June 2018, Jawwad Ansar is now banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company for 9 years.

Martin Gitner of the Insolvency Service, said:

The company booked large numbers of flights, for which the company owes in excess of £2m, and has no evidence of these being purchased for bona fide business purposes

This ban should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to take an established company, incur large liabilities for goods for which no payment is made and then fail to provide evidence of the legitimacy of the purchases.

Notes to editors

Jawwad Ansar is of Ilford and his date of birth is January 1971.

Cheap Flight House Limited (Company number 07431812) was incorporated on 8 November 2010.

A disqualification undertaking has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

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.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Contact Press Office

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

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UK calls for ‘move from rhetoric to action’ to address ‘global injustice’ of discrimination against disabled people

· The Department for International Development will today host the UK Government’s first ever Global Disability Summit at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London
· The Summit will shine a light on the discrimination and stigma faced by up to 1 billion people globally who have a disability
· The UK will pledge to ambitious commitments to tackle the scale of the problem

The UK will today [Tuesday, 24 July] host its first ever Global Disability Summit and call on international partners to tackle the prejudice faced by disabled people.

The International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, will lead a global call to ‘move from rhetoric to action’ on improving the lives of disabled people, including some of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world.

As part of the UK’s commitment, Ms. Mordaunt will announce a new innovative UK Aid Connect programme which will work with different organisations within small communities to support disabled people into jobs in the developing world.

The landmark summit will be co-hosted alongside the Government of Kenya and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and will see the UK challenging established practices to ensure that equal rights of disabled people are upheld.

Participants will be expected to commit to real, transformative action, and the International Development Secretary will call on delegates to hold each other to account on delivering pledges made at the event.

The UK-led event will bring together government ministers, business leaders, and disabled people from all over the world to tackle what is a burning global issue. Governments and other organisations will commit to work in partnership with each other to put disabled people and their representative organisations at the front and centre of their work.

The Summit will feature a keynote speech from President Moreno of Ecuador; a world leader who has a disability himself. Participants will also have access to a marketplace of organisations showcasing new policy and technology for disabled people.
Over the two days there will be range of spotlight sessions exploring issues affecting disabled people and a screening of the Oscar winning short film Silent Child, alongside a Q&A.
In advance of today’s Summit, the Prime Minister has called for real and substantive change.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, said:

“The path a person takes in life should not be dictated by their disability and yet people are forced, every day, to deal with prejudice and even violence.

“That is why the UK’s first ever Global Disability Summit is dedicated to bringing together our international partners and transforming the lives of the world’s most vulnerable and why we are committed to ending discrimination and stigma against disabled people.”

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, said:

“Discrimination and stigma against disabled people is a global injustice – one that has been ignored for too long – and one we need to fix urgently.

“Today I am calling for countries around the developing world to stand alongside disabled people in their countries and commit to end stigma and fully value the contribution disabled people can give to the success of those nations.

“This isn’t just the right thing to do for humanity – it is also the smart thing to do because it’s impossible to end extreme poverty if a significant part of your society is left out of the deal.

“Today we will learn from each other and will make commitments to enable disabled people to reach their full potential.”

Ms. Mordaunt, who referenced the importance of this Summit when she became the first Minister to use sign language at the despatch box of the House of Commons earlier this month, has committed the UK Government to a number of initiatives to demonstrate our commitment and leadership.

These include:

• a new global partnership – ‘AT Scale’, to transform access to and affordability of life-changing devices and basic technology, such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, hearing aids and glasses; this would be aimed at reaching 500 million people globally by 2030 by bringing organisations together to share data and consider how best to tackle issues of innovation, affordability and availability – work that would benefit disabled people in the UK and overseas;

• a new innovative UK Aid Connect programme, led by charities Sightsavers and Leonard Cheshire Disability, which will work with organisations within small communities to support disabled people into jobs in the developing world;

• a new six-year programme to design ways to help 100,000 disabled people to access health services, 10,000 disabled children to access education, and up to 45,000 disabled people to increase their incomes. This programme will also help to improve policy making in the UK;

• increasing DFID’s work with businesses around the globe, supporting disabled people as employers, employees and consumers.

The Department already pledged in April this year to support disabled girls into education as part of the flagship Education Challenge programme.

The Global Disability Summit has been designed to mobilise new global and national commitments on disability, and showcase good practice, innovation and evidence from across the world.

There will be four central themes for the Summit, around which the participants will build commitments and showcase best practice. These are:

•tackling stigma and discrimination

•inclusive education

•routes to economic empowerment

•harnessing technology and innovation

The Chair of the International Disability Alliance, Ana Lucia Arellano, said:

“IDA is welcoming this historic Global Disability Summit and commends the UK Government for this timely initiative. We, as a representative organisation of persons with disabilities, are committed to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and we see the Summit as a critical impetus into its implementation in every corner of the world.

“We believe that we can achieve the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society only through the meaningful and genuine stakeholder partnership between organisations of persons with disabilities, governments, the private and all actors involved. We are committed to supporting Governments and all participants of the Summit in the implementation of their commitments that they are expressing today.”

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection, Ukur Yatani, said:

The Global Disability Summit provides nations, together with civil society, a rare and welcome opportunity to act in tandem on this important issue of disability – an area which has been neglected for too long.

We need to delve into the causes of the existing and emerging gaps in the sector and provide realistic trackable actions that will immensely improve the situation for people with disabilities from the countries represented in this unique summit.

Notes to Editors

• An estimated one billion people – 15% of the world’s population – have some form of disability and an estimated 80% of these people live in developing countries – (World Disability Report, jointly published by the WHO and World Bank (2011)

• Disabled people are often the poorest and most excluded in their communities, and face significant barriers that can prevent them from realising their rights, living with dignity, and fully participating in social, economic and political life.

• Around the world, disabled people continue to face appalling levels of stigma, discrimination and abuse, and all too often miss out on the opportunities that are the right of every person.

For images and videos of the stories of people with disabilities around the world go to this link
link If used please credit DFID.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox launches the UK government’s first ever public consultations on new trade agreements.

People across the UK will have their say on prospective new agreements with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and on the UK’s potential membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership today (Sunday, 22 July).

In a historic moment for the country, the 14-week consultations will allow the public to have a say on what trade will look like with some of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world. People will be invited to share their views on which areas matter to them most as well as any concerns they have.

The consultations, which are available online now show determination to make the most of the UK’s ability to set its own trade policy for the first time in 40 years.

The prospect of a future trade agreement will be one of the subjects discussed by Dr Fox with senior trade officials including US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer in the USA on Tuesday (24 July). The International Trade Secretary will also raise the issue of the recent imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, calling instead for a multilateral solution to global issues of overcapacity.

He will meet US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross in Washington DC where he will also make a speech at think tank, the Heritage Foundation.

The visit will also build on the work of the UK-US Trade and Investment Working Group, launched by Dr Fox and Lighthizer in Washington last summer, which held its fourth official-level meeting in London last week. The working group is already taking steps to strengthen trade and investment ties now including supporting industry agreements on mutual recognition of qualifications, cooperation on science and technology and launching a joint SME dialogue to share best practice and boost exports.

He will then fly to San Francisco where he will address the British American Business Council and meet companies including Facebook, IT company Oracle who employ 5,000 people in the UK and American film and TV production company, LucasFilm.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox said:

For the first time in over 40 years, the UK will be able to determine who we trade with and the public will have a say on the terms of these trading agreements.

This is a hugely historic moment for the British people who voted to leave the European Union and take back control and the government is delivering exactly that on trade.

We are seeking to put the UK at the heart of the world’s fastest growing regions agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It’s also why I’m making the case for a trade deal with our single largest trading partner the USA and will continue do the same with the New Zealand and Australia.

The launch of public consultations follows Dr Fox’s statement to Parliament on Monday, where he set out the government’s approach to a transparent and inclusive UK trade policy which takes in the views of MPs, devolved governments, businesses, civil society groups and consumers.

If the UK were to join CPTPP, it would be the second largest economy in the group, and CPTPP’s coverage of global GDP would increase to around 17%.

The agreement reduces 95% of tariffs along with other barriers to trade among its 11 members, including Canada, Japan and Singapore.

The 11 existing members of CPTPP accounted for £82 billion of UK trade in 2016, more than the Netherlands, France or China. The economies of existing members are diverse, spanning a region which is a driving force of global economic growth. Many, including Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore have been growing substantially over the last 5 years, growth which the IMF projects will continue in the near future.

The US is the UK’s single largest trading partner, accounting for £100 billion of UK annual exports and supporting millions of UK jobs.

UK exports to Australia and New Zealand, 2 of the UK’s closest allies, are growing at 14.8% and 16.8% respectively, a faster pace than our global average.