51-year-old Peter Henry Nicholson, from Wolverhampton, was made bankrupt on 14 May 2012 and issued with an order from the Insolvency Service preventing him from acting as company director for a period of 12 months.
He was appointed as sales director of Lincoln-based managed print services provider Tandem Print Solutions, formerly Tandem Solutions Group, less than a month later, on 1 June 2012, breaking the terms of his order.
Nicholson is also currently under investigation from the insolvency service and the police for entering into fraudulent agreements with clients during his time with Tandem. He joined Tandem in 2011.
Nicholson remained in the post of Tandem sales director until 18 March 2014, with the company entering administration on 31 July 2014. He has now given an undertaking to Greg Clark, secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), preventing him from being “directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of company for 10 years from 20 December 2016”.
A spokesman for the insolvency service said sanctions in this situation tend to disqualify for between two and 15 years, leading 51-year-old Nicholson to be given a “reasonably high tariff”.
“He isn’t entitled to run a business unless he gets leave of the court to do so but it would be unlikely in this case,” said the spokesman.
Insolvency Service chief investigator Sue MacLeod said: “BEIS will continue to uphold the integrity of the insolvency regime and will not hesitate to act if a bankrupt breaches the restrictions to which he is subject. The disqualification should act as a deterrent and warning to others who might be considering such breaches.”
According to Tandem’s statement of administrator’s proposal, dated 19 September 2014 and written by Martin Buttriss and Richard Simms of FA Simms & Partners, Nicholson’s breach was discovered in Q1 2014 when a number of Tandem’s clients rejected invoices raised in relation to the supply of toners. It emerged that the company had been spending £55,000 per month on toner, but it had only been issuing invoices to the value of £25,000 per month.
This resulted in a full audit into contracts at which point Nicholson’s involvement became evident and it was discovered that Nicholson had entered into fraudulent agreements with around 50 clients, identified as having an approximate £650,000 value. The 50 clients were unaware of the fraudulent activity.
The matter was reported to the police and is the subject of an ongoing investigation.
The adminstrator's proposal said: "The company's difficulties were caused by the recruitment of Peter Nicholson in 2011 who became a director in 2012."
Tandem Print Solutions, based in Southfields Business Park, Lincolnshire, was incorporated on 5 August 2009. It supplied photocopier and printer services to local businesses and schools.
In its statement of affairs dated 13 October 2014, it had book debts of £189,754 and an estimated deficiency as regards non-preferential creditors of £967,752.
