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Pak Supermarket Washwood Heath Ltd, known as Pak Supermarket, was incorporated on 3 August 2010 and operated in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.

However, the company went into Creditor’s Voluntary Liquidation in January 2015 with an estimated deficiency of more than £2.8 million.

Following the company’s liquidation, an investigation by the Insolvency Service found that the company had provided misleading information to Birmingham City Council as to the identity and potential liability of the occupants of the supermarket between August 2010 and 13 October 2014.

Over the four years of trading, the company submitted to the council documents relating to eight third-party companies, suggesting these eight companies were, at separate times, the occupants responsible for business rates. As a result, this information hid that the fact that the true occupant was Pak Supermarket and it was the supermarket that was liable to pay business rates.

Prepared accounts and bank analysis showed a turnover for the company in excess of £35million and the company only made a single payment of £5,000 towards a business rates bill of at least £680,000.

Investigators then spoke to Mohammed Younis as he was the sole appointed director of Pak Supermarket between August 2010 and January 2014.

However, he told investigators from the Insolvency Service that from November 2010 he took no part in the management of the company and left it under the control of Zahir Rasul, who was only formally appointed on 15 January 2014.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has since accepted disqualification undertakings of eight years from Zahir Rasul and three years from Mohammed Younis, effective from 10 April and 3 May respectively.

This means that they cannot be directors of a company whether directly or indirectly, or be involved in the management of a company in any way for the duration of their disqualifications.

Martin Gitner, Deputy Head of Investigations at the Insolvency Service, said:

Directors have a duty to provide their local council with complete and accurate information with regard to the occupants of trading premises in order to ensure that liability is properly attributed.

Where information provided is found to be false and/or misleading, resulting in a loss of funds to the Council, directors can expect to be investigated by the Insolvency Service and enforcement action taken to remove them from the market place.

Notes to editors

Mr Younis was born in April 1971 and he resides in Bradford. He was appointed director on 3 August 2010 and resigned on 15 January 2014

Mr Rasul’s date of birth is December 1979 and he resides in Birmingham. He was appointed director on 15 January 2014.

Pak Supermarket Washwood Heath Ltd (CRO No. 07333282) was incorporated on 3 August 2010 and latterly traded from Washwood Heath Road, Washwood Heath, Birmingham B8 2XJ as a supermarket

A disqualification order 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 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 7637 6498

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The 43 year-old viaduct, which carries the existing A14 over the railway line and local roads currently dominates the skyline near the Huntingdon train station. Removing it, and creating link roads to and from the old A14, is an important part of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme, which is upgrading 21 miles of the A14 to three lanes in each direction, including a brand new bypass south of Huntingdon.

The plans will enable a major redesign of the Huntingdon train station area. A new public transport hub will be created, with bus stops conveniently located for the railway station. Removing the viaduct will also reduce noise and air pollution and will facilitate further improvements in Huntingdon town centre.

Main construction work is expected to start in 2019.

Chris Bayliss, A14 project manager at Highways England, said:

Work to upgrade the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon is progressing well and we are on schedule to open the new road to traffic by the end of 2020.

The Huntingdon viaduct was built in 1975, and removing it will create new opportunities for Huntingdon. Once the new A14 is open to traffic, the old A14 will become a local road. The plans we are sharing today will make it even easier for people to travel around, as well as in and out of, Huntingdon.

We are holding six public events this June and encourage people to come see us for a chat and find out more about these exciting plans!

To find out more about the work in Huntingdon people are invited to come along to one of the events – details can be found on the scheme webpage.

The £1.5bn A14 upgrade will add additional capacity, boost the local and national economy and cut up to 20 minutes off journeys.

The main construction work at Huntingdon will include a new Mill Common link road, the removal of the A14 viaduct and work around the train station, and a new Views Common link road. Preparatory work, such as archaeology and utility diversion, will start ahead of main construction work.

Chance to volunteer on the A14 community archaeology dig this summer

The A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon archaeology team is calling for volunteers to take part in a free summer community dig programme between 24 July and 25 August 2018.

This is a once in a lifetime chance for people to take part in one of the largest archaeological excavation projects ever undertaken in Britain.

Volunteers will work alongside archaeology experts from the A14 archaeology team and its contractors MOLA Headland Infrastructure, exploring evidence of industrial activity relating to the abandoned medieval village of Houghton, near Huntingdon, as well as Iron Age and Roman remains.

Each volunteer must be able to commit to five (not necessarily consecutive) days of excavation from 9am to 4pm.

To apply, email msearle@molaheadland.com before 25 June 2018, stating your preferred days.

For the latest information about the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, including job and training opportunities, visit the scheme webpage follow @A14C2H on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

We welcome that President Trump and Kim Jong Un have held a constructive summit. This is an important step towards the stability of a region vital to global economic growth and home to thousands of British Nationals and important UK interests.

The reaffirmation of North Korea’s commitment in the Panmunjom Declaration to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is a signal that Kim Jong Un may have finally heeded the message that only a change of course can bring a secure and prosperous future to the people of North Korea.

There is much work still to be done and we hope Kim continues to negotiate in good faith towards complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. The UK will continue to support the United States in its efforts to achieve denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @BorisJohnson and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn