Why Didn’t Insolvency Service Prosecute MG Rover’s Phoenix Four?

The former directors of MG Rover Group (MGRG), who pocketed over £40 million as the company spiralled into administration, should have been punished with lengthy disqualifications forcing them into early retirement and out of business management. Instead, Peter Beale, John Towers, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards – known as the ‘Phoenix Four’ – received bans…

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£200,000 Chantrey Vellacott Thief Should Have Gone to Prison

Garry Hacker, an insolvency practitioner who stole over £200,000 from clients and insolvency estates and put the money into his accounts, has been sacked from veteran accountancy firm Chantrey Vellacott and had his licence removed. At a disciplinary tribunal hearing led by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), Hacker admitted transferring…

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How to Protect Customer Deposits Without New Legislation

Britain must have new legislation to ensure cash from deposits and voucher sales is returned to customers when a retailer goes into administration, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). The call follows the recent insolvencies of retailers such as music chain Zavvi and furniture supplier MFI where customers lost cash paid…

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Government’s Pre-Pack Administration Reforms Too Soft

A few weeks ago, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State responsible for the insolvency regime, Ed Davey, unveiled a series of proposals aimed at reforming ‘pre-pack’ administrations. These include forcing insolvency practitioners (IPs) to give creditors prior warning about the sale of significant proportions of a company’s assets to a connected party. Under the terms of…

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