Directors banned after boss spent £1m on bullion
FIVE FORMER directors of a food firm have been disqualified from running companies following the managing director’s purchase of more than £970,000 of gold bullion “for his sole benefit”.
The family members were banned from being company directors for a total of 16 years after an Insolvency Service investigation into Bradford-based Greentabs Ltd, previously known as Mumtaz Food Industries.
It was part of the Mumtaz brand, which has restaurants in Bradford and Leeds and makes its own brand of ready meals.
The Insolvency Service said Dr Gul-Nawaz Khan Akbar, managing director of Greentabs Ltd, was disqualified for six years.
An Insolvency Service spokesperson said: “He failed to act in the best interest of the company by purchasing gold bullion to the value of £976,055 with company funds for his sole benefit whilst creditors amounting to £447,997 remained unpaid.”
Dr Akbar’s two brothers, Mumtaz Khan Akbar and Rab Nawaz Khan Akbar, were each disqualified for three years after being aware of the transaction and allowing it to happen.
Dr Akbar’s wife Fameeda Akbar and Mumtaz Khan Akbar’s wife Kauser Akbar were each disqualified for two years for “not upholding corporate governance requirements”.
The disqualification orders, which were made in the High Court in Leeds on November 16 and came into force on December 8, were announced yesterday by the Insolvency Service.
Investigators found that the gold bullion was purchased by Mumtaz Food Industries, which traded as a restaurant and food manufacturing plant at Great Horton Road, Bradford, between November 30 and December 11, 2012.
Company board minutes showed that “it was agreed by Dr Akbar, Mumtaz Khan Akbar and Rab Nawaz Khan Akbar that the title to that gold would pass solely to Dr Akbar via the use of an employee benefit trust,” the investigation found.
Before the gold bullion was bought, £447,997 was owed to six creditors.
The amount remained outstanding at the time of the liquidation of the company.
Mumtaz Food Industries changed its name to Greentabs Ltd in February 2013, company records show. Greentabs Ltd entered into voluntary liquidation on May 24, 2013.
Mumtaz, which was launched in 1979, has restaurants in Great Horton Road, Bradford, and Clarence Dock, Leeds, and makes its own range of ready meals.