Charges dropped and defence costs awarded for former company director
Our client, a company director, was prosecuted by the Insolvency Service on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for three company offences, including failing to deliver up to the liquidator the books and papers and failing to preserve accounting records over a 6-year period.
The prosecution alleged that our client had spent £200k in a casino and £190k at a foreign exchange dealer using company funds not referable to the company’s books and records.
Following a meticulous review of the voluminous material supplied in advance of the first magistrates’ court hearing, we negotiated with the prosecution and they accepted a guilty plea to a lesser charge (failing to keep adequate books and records) on the basis that our client had not been dishonest. The two most serious charges were not proceeded with.
We instructed a leading junior counsel in this field and provided a comprehensive explanation to mitigate our client’s behaviour together with a 54-page bundle of relevant material for the court. The magistrates imposed a small financial penalty for the single offence and allowed our client to reclaim two-thirds of his defence costs on the basis that two out of three of the charges were withdrawn by the prosecution.
Our client was delighted with the result, in particular the prosecution’s unequivocal acceptance that he was not dishonest. Our client frequently travels to America to see his son and a conviction for a crime involving ‘moral turpitude’ would likely have interfered with his family life.
David Bloom, assisted by Natasha Lake, instructed Nathaniel Rudolf of 25 Bedford Row.
