Scottish restaurateur barred from directorships

The disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service into the business owned by 28-year old Ambia Begum. She ran the Lochnagar Indian Brasserie at Ballater.

When HMRC obtained a winding up petition in July 2014, it had debts totalling £424,962 at the time.

The Insolvency Service, which investigates UK compulsory liquidations and individual bankruptcies to establish why they became insolvent, found that from December 1, 2011 to July 1, 2014, the company’s books were “inadequate”.

It said this made it impossible to verify expenditure from a company bank account totalling £276,783, or whether receipts of £276,783, were “a true representation of the sales achieved”.

There was also no way of knowing whether the business owned or had disposed of any assets and if so, what their value was.

In addition, it was impossible to “establish the true level of liabilities” owed to HMRC and whether the company should have registered for pay-as-you earn and National Insurance contributions.

Robert Clarke, head of company investigation at the Insolvency Service, said: “Directors who operate cash-based businesses have to maintain sufficient records to explain where these monies have gone and, following insolvency, make sure that such records are delivered up for scrutiny by the relevant bodies.

“By failing to do this the public cannot be sure that all funds received by the company were used for legitimate purposes.”