Last updated at 17:42, Wednesday, 26 September 2012

A BUSINESSMAN has been banned from running any company for five years following a government investigation into his finances.

John Alexander Wormall

John Alexander Wormall was director of the companies behind the Paulo Giannis Italian restaurants in Barrow and Kendal, the Stagger Inn at Stainton and the Uplands Hotel in Cartmel.

Five months before the companies went bust, £232,152 was transferred from the two Paulo Giannis eateries and the Stagger Inn into another of Wormall’s companies.

After the companies went into liquidation, the remaining assets – valued at £22,325 – were not sufficient to pay creditors who were owed a total of £288,806.

Wormall also ran the four businesses while withholding pay-as-you-earn tax and National Insurance which had already been deducted from the earnings of staff and VAT liabilities.

When all four companies had gone into liquidation, at least £458,130 was owed to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

In an interview with the Evening Mail, Wormall admitted responsibility but blamed the banking crisis. “If the banks hadn’t pulled in our overdraft facility and on-demand loans of £1.2m, we would have been able to pay the tax bill,” he said.

But Wormall, who splits his time between an address in Scott Street in Barrow, and Lancaster, claims he chose not to fight the Insolvency Service because it would have involved a costly court battle.

He has now been banned from acting as a company director and from managing, or in any way controlling, a company until October 4, 2017. A defiant Wormall said the ruling will not affect him as an individual but conceded: “Obviously it’s going to affect my credibility.”

The companies operating Stagger Inn, Paulo Giannis in Kendal and the Uplands Hotel went into liquidation on October 23, 2009. Paulo Giannis in Kendal had debts of at least £288,806 and assets of only £22,325. The Stagger Inn had debts of at least £187,268 and assets of £3,528.

The Uplands Hotel restaurant had debts of at least £47,143 and assets of just £573.

The company behind Paulo Giannis in Cavendish Street, Barrow, then went into liquidation on November 10, 2009, with debts of at least £150,272 and assets of £752.

When asked what the money which had been taken out of the companies was used for, Wormall said he had “never taken money out of companies for personal use” and insisted the transfers had been made by the banks and not him.

He said: “It is due to the banking crisis, that’s why they called the loans in... I’m sure there are thousands of other casualties like me.”

Wormall, who still owns the properties but insisted he no longer had any involvement in the running of the restaurants, said most of the debts owed by the companies had been to him.

“I had loaned the company £450,000 of my own money,” he said.

The Insolvency Service, which carried out the investigation, condemned Wormall’s “unacceptable financial practices”.

He is not, however, liable to pay the debts personally because of the protection of limited liability, which effectively means it is a company – and not a person, which is responsible.

First published at 16:02, Thursday, 20 September 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk