INSOLVENCY SERVICE
News Release (Ins/Coms/07) issued by The Government News Network on
16 June 2008
Two related
companies that provided freight forwarding services, arranging
shipping primarily to Zimbabwe, have been wound up in the public
interest following an investigation by Companies Investigation
Branch (CIB) of the Insolvency Service.
The companies were based in Northampton and the investigation
revealed that neither company has any assets and owe ship owners
nearly £150,000. No proper accounts were kept and the
companies' business was abandoned by the directors in
February 2007 owing other known creditors around £7,000. Because
of the chaotic management of the business the full extent of the
liabilities is unknown.
GlobalTrade1Stop Limited was the successor company to Protea
(Europe) Limited. A website intended to bring buyers and sellers
of commodities together was unsuccessful and its affairs soon
became inextricably linked with the freight forwarding business
carried on by Protea from the same premises.
Latterly a fish importation business was operated instead by the
company, again unsuccessfully, that falsely claimed to have a
processing plant in Sri Lanka, its own fishing vessels in Sri
Lanka and to have operated for 10 years and have an EU license.
According to Mrs Maria Appuhamy (the wife of Protea's sole
director Mr Wendhamuni Appuhamy) who acted in the management of
both companies throughout, customers had collected their goods
from warehouses in Zimbabwe, but afterwards could not be traced
and the companies consequently were unable to collect some
£200,000 owed.
In ordering the companies into liquidation Mr Registrar Nicholls
agreed with the investigator's findings, namely that both
companies were inextricably linked and had been operated with a
lack of commercial probity. Also there were inadequate financial
and other records, a lack of proper control, and in the case of
Globaltrade1Stop Limited, hopelessly insolvent. He commented that
the evidence obtained was considerable and that "cargo
included goods Protea had been paid for. In other words
GlobalTrade1Stop had been used when credit had been exhausted and expired".
Notes to Editors:
1. PROTEA (EUROPE) LIMITED was incorporated on 9 May 2005. The
registered office of the company since 10 January 2007 has been 27
Lyveden Road, Brackmills Industrial Estate, Northampton, NN4 7ED.
The company's sole recorded director throughout has been Mr
Wendhamuni Appuhamy. The secretary throughout has been Aldbury
Secretaries Limited.
2. GLOBALTRADE1STOP LIMITED was incorporated on 4 October 2005.
The registered office of the company since 29 November 2006 has
been c/o Aldbury Associates, Mobbs Miller House, and Ardington
Road, Northampton, NN1 5LP. The sole recorded director of the
company since 1 November 2006 has been Mr Jasenthu Lal Liyange.
The secretary since 20 November 2006 has been Aldbury Secretaries Limited.
3. The petitions to wind up the companies in the public interest
were presented on 1 April 2008 under the provisions of section
124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries
carried out by Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) under the
provisions of section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.
4. The companies were ordered into liquidation on 7 May 2008.
5. Companies Investigation Branch, part of the Insolvency
Service, carries out confidential enquiries on behalf of the
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory
Reform (BERR).
6. 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. The Service also 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.
7. All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company
should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 21
Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3SS, Tel No: 020 7637 1110.
Email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk
8. Further information about the work of The Insolvency Service
is available from http://www.insolvency.gov.uk