A Co Down company director has been disqualified from business following unfit conduct.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (the Department) has accepted a disqualification undertaking for six years from David John Wilson (47) of Brookside Road, Ballynahinch, Co Down, in respect of his conduct as a director of Irish Polymers Limited.

The company carried on the business of waste material recycling from Nutts Corner Business Park, Dundrod Road, Crumlin, from December 2005 until it went into liquidation on 9 April 2008 with estimated uncharged assets of £152,500, liabilities of £7,131 to preferential creditors, liabilities of £244,222 to floating charge holders, liabilities of £1,302,042 to non preferential creditors and an estimated deficiency as regards creditors of £1,400,895. After taking into account the losses incurred by members (shareholders, including the directors) of the company the total estimated deficiency was £1,510,895.

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The Department accepted the disqualification undertaking from David John Wilson on 20 July 2010 based on the following unfit conduct which solely for the purposes of the disqualification procedure was not disputed: Causing and permitting the company to trade at the expense of creditors in that he allowed the Crown debt to increase by £69,947 and the company’s overall liabilities to increase by £340,496 between the date the directors first took insolvency advice in March 2007 to the date of the proposed CVA in September 2007 and a further increase in liabilities of £177,074 between the date of the CVA and the date of liquidation; Causing and permitting the company to make a payment of £4,400 to himself rather than to trade creditors which by Order of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland on 8 October 2009 constituted a preference within the meaning of Article 203 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989; Proposing a Company Voluntary Arrangement without establishing his ability to raise investment funds, ultimately causing the failure of the Company Voluntary Arrangement when he was unable to raise the required funding; Failing to comply with Article 235 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 in that accounts for the year ended 31 March 2007 were not filed in Companies Registry; Failing to comply with Article 371(1) of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 in that the annual return for the year ended 13 October 2007, which should have been filed by 10 November 2007, was not filed.

The Department has accepted 13 Disqualification Undertakings and the Court has made an order disqualifying one director in the financial year commencing 1 April 2010.

(GK/KMcA)