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
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Link: Press release: 9-year ban for flight boss after failing to keep proper records
Source: Gov Press Releases
