The Insolvency Service has reported that Mohammed Ikram, from Birmingham, has been sentenced to 27 months at His Majesty's Pleasure and has been banned as a company director for seven years, for fraudulen trading and filing false accounts.
Mr Ikram, 41, purchased more than £200,000 of goods, ranging from specialist tools to kitchen prodcuts, mattresses and timber on credit, shortly after being appointed director of Maxxmed UK Ltd. No payments were ever made for the goods, and the company conducted no legitimate trading during Mr Ikram's time as a director. He was appointed in December 2016. In February 2017, Mr Ikram filed accounts at Companies House showing assets of £335,006 and shareholders' funds of £202,333, which he then used to obtain goods on credit from suppliers totalling £201,391 between December 2016 and August 2017. The goods were delivered to the company's address in Derby.
Mark Stephens, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "Mohammed Ikram used his company as a vehicle to cynically commit short-term commercial fraud against creditors. Ikram deliberately submitted over-inflated accounts to Companies House with the intention of defrauding the company’s suppliers by purchasing various goods which he never had any intention of ever paying for. The Insolvency Service will not tolerate such deception and unscrupulous conduct and we will use all the powers at our disposal to tackle financial wrongdoing."
Maxxmed had been trading since 2009, prior to Ikram's appointment, and was dissolved in November 2019.
Investigations by the Insolvency Service resulted in Mr Ikram being arrested at his home address in March 2021. He claimed he had no knowledge of Maxxmed, but was found guilty in January 2024 of fraudulent trading, and breaking company law by filing false, and inflated, accounts.
