Sixty-one companies believed to be under the control of a foreign resident director which filed false and misleading information and failed to co-operate with investigators have been wound up in the High Court following an investigation by Company Investigations of the Insolvency Service.
The winding up orders were all made on 4 October 2011. None of the companies were represented at court.
The investigation found that all of the companies are somehow connected with a Mr Rainer Von Holst and Ms Ann Von Holst who run a business offering English companies to German clients when “bankruptcy or commercial difficulties threaten” .
The case against the Companies was not based on anything they had done in the course of trading and in fact most, if not all, the companies appeared to be dormant. The investigation uncovered a serious lack of transparency as to who controlled the companies with the named directors proving entirely unresponsive.
Commenting on the case, Geoff Hanna, an Investigation manager, said;
“This action was based on a serious disregard for the laws which govern all limited liability companies; laws which are intended to ensure that limited liability is not abused and that members of the public can contact the companies and regulators can obtain information. We will not allow the reputation of the UK corporate regime to be tarnished by allowing such abuses to continue with impunity.”
The grounds for winding up the companies included,
* Incorrect particulars filed at Companies House
* Breaches of the Companies Act 2006
* Lack of transparency; and
* Failure to co-operate with the investigators
At one time all 61 companies had their registered office address at 4 Priory Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The same address was also used by the directors and company secretaries of the companies. There was no evidence they had any right to use the address and had no presence there. The companies were in breach of the requirements to keep certain statutory records at their registered offices.
There have been breaches of the requirement in the Companies Act 2006 to have a natural person as a director.
The 4 Priory Road, Kenilworth address did not lead to those in control of the companies and there was no other means of contacting the companies or finding out who controlled them.
Responses received by investigators from Ranier Von Holst and Ann Von Holst were inconsistent; ranging from querying the investigators’ entitlement to information, to claiming it would take ‘some time’ to collate the information, to alleging that the enquiries would be passed to ‘those responsible’ without specifying whom. In the event no documents were ever produced to the investigators.
The petitions to wind up these companies in the public interest were presented to the High Court under s.124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 on various dates between 6 th and 21 st May 2011.
A full list of the companies, their dates of incorporation and registered office addresses can be found at http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/lfi/421598