Undercover BBC - Solicitor Expose

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30rln4pz58xo

It in the least surprised.

I don't see any mention of Companies House in the article, But it has been known for a long time that its procedure for registering companies and their directors is unbelievably poor. Anyone can register a company for a very modest fee using random addresses which have nothing to do with any company and no proof is required of the legitimacy of the owners or directors. 'Ghost directors' are easy to register and probably exist in very large numbers.

Provide sufficient loopholes and there will be plenty of people willing to exploit them.

It is to be hoped that this particular solicitor is struck off, but I don't expect he is the only one...

Time to tighten up registration and bring in strict measures against these companies then? The director lives abroad and/or cannot be traced, then seize the business, freeze its accounts and stop it trading until the fines are paid. That should concentrate the minds a little.
This solicitor should be struck off followed by others who assist in similar fraud.

MaizieD

I don't see any mention of Companies House in the article, But it has been known for a long time that its procedure for registering companies and their directors is unbelievably poor. Anyone can register a company for a very modest fee using random addresses which have nothing to do with any company and no proof is required of the legitimacy of the owners or directors. 'Ghost directors' are easy to register and probably exist in very large numbers.

Provide sufficient loopholes and there will be plenty of people willing to exploit them.

It is to be hoped that this particular solicitor is struck off, but I don't expect he is the only one...

MaizieD the processes company directors have to go through has been tightened up.

(So much so that I had to spend the afternoon in the office recently (shock horror) going through a new registration (despite the company trading for over 40 years) in order to submit the company accounts, which was complicated and they wanted a lot of information, rightly so.)

I suppose the shelf companies get round this by not trading.

The other wheeze is to fold within the time limit for submitting accounts.

There are a lot of very dodgy companies run by foreigners, some quite large, they are set up deliberately to engage in fraud, then after 3 or 4 yrs disappear leaving £millions owing to creditors, VAT and tax

The rules need changing quickly

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD

I don't see any mention of Companies House in the article, But it has been known for a long time that its procedure for registering companies and their directors is unbelievably poor. Anyone can register a company for a very modest fee using random addresses which have nothing to do with any company and no proof is required of the legitimacy of the owners or directors. 'Ghost directors' are easy to register and probably exist in very large numbers.

Provide sufficient loopholes and there will be plenty of people willing to exploit them.

It is to be hoped that this particular solicitor is struck off, but I don't expect he is the only one...

MaizieD the processes company directors have to go through has been tightened up.

(So much so that I had to spend the afternoon in the office recently (shock horror) going through a new registration (despite the company trading for over 40 years) in order to submit the company accounts, which was complicated and they wanted a lot of information, rightly so.)

I suppose the shelf companies get round this by not trading.

The other wheeze is to fold within the time limit for submitting accounts.

Interesting 8GG13*. This took me down a bit of a rabbit hole. The identification process you describe must be the result of the recent Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.

But I won't deflect further

David49

There are a lot of very dodgy companies run by foreigners, some quite large, they are set up deliberately to engage in fraud, then after 3 or 4 yrs disappear leaving £millions owing to creditors, VAT and tax

The rules need changing quickly

That made me crease up. There are hundreds of dodgy home grown solicitors and financial advisors and always have been. Telling families how to get round x and y laws. Telling the rich how to hoard their money.

Nothing new under the sun, this.

Get the lot, I say.!!!!

Not in the least surprised. 🤷‍♀️ The corruption involved in what some call the migrant industry is rife.

Wyllow3

David49

There are a lot of very dodgy companies run by foreigners, some quite large, they are set up deliberately to engage in fraud, then after 3 or 4 yrs disappear leaving £millions owing to creditors, VAT and tax

The rules need changing quickly

That made me crease up. There are hundreds of dodgy home grown solicitors and financial advisors and always have been. Telling families how to get round x and y laws. Telling the rich how to hoard their money.

Nothing new under the sun, this.

Get the lot, I say.!!!!

There are tens of thousands of fraudulent companies in the UK, thats in addition to the black market small trading.

Not as many dodgy solicitors or accountants, it's too easy to get caught out now tax is online.

Appalling, but can’t say I was surprised. He should surely have been struck off by now.

A couple of years ago I looked up on the Law Society’s website a former neighbour with an unusual name who I knew had been struck off for fraud and money laundering.
I found him, but what really startled me was the long lists of solicitors who’d been struck off. Masses of them!

Obviously there are hordes of dodgy ones about!

David49 I just asked Google how many fraudulent companies in U.K.

The answer was Companies House and HMRC are cracking down in this and 11,500 companies (non compliance) have been struck of this tax year. And their agents prevented from operating false or shell entities.

Well done these agencies 👏👏👏

Many loopholes have been closed, long may this continue.

Rosie51

Time to tighten up registration and bring in strict measures against these companies then? The director lives abroad and/or cannot be traced, then seize the business, freeze its accounts and stop it trading until the fines are paid. That should concentrate the minds a little.
This solicitor should be struck off followed by others who assist in similar fraud.

I completely agree.

Yes, root them all out.