Body parts scandal boss banned over £3m transfer
Clinical waste chief ‘abused position when she moved assets from firm’
A DIRECTOR of a scandal-hit clinical waste firm which stockpiled body parts has been banned from running companies after £3million of assets were moved before its collapse.
Ex-Healthcare Environmental Services boss Alison Pettigrew, wife of former co-director Garry Pettigrew, has been disqualified by Government agency the Insolvency Service (IS).
It said Mrs Pettigrew, 52, breached her “fiduciary duty” by allowing HES to transfer assets valued at £2,979,383 to connected firms in the two months before the firm collapsed – sparking a national clinical waste crisis.
Mr Pettigrew’s conduct is also being investigated by the watchdog, it’s understood.
The Lanarkshire-based company, which had removed waste from every hospital, GP surgery, dental practice and pharmacy in Scotland, lost lucrative NHS contracts in 2018 after it allowed body parts to stockpile at several sites.
Mrs Pettigrew, who is currently listed on the board of five active firms in Companies House, will not be permitted to act as a director for three-and-ahalf years.
Outlining what happened to HES’s finances as it went bust, IS said: “The transfers had the effect of putting assets beyond the reach of creditors at a time when Mrs Pettigrew knew, or ought to have known, that the company was facing the loss of contracts and severely restricted trading due to breaches of Environment Agency permits.”
An IS spokesman said she “abused her position when she transferred nearly £3million worth of assets out of the company”.
He added: “Not only did she ignore professional advice but she acted to the detriment of her creditors.”
Mrs Pettigrew did not respond to our requests for comment.