We in the NTI newsroom consider that Judge Hodge knows what he is doing; after all he is significantly qualified to hold an informed opinion on the matter, so when he expressed 'concern' that the director of an IVA volume provider, Vanguard, seemed incapable of seeing anything wrong in the company’s failure to disclose to creditors and debtors the mechanism that was used to pay money from the IVA estates, effectively for the benefit of himself and his companies, he seems to be a person worth listening to.
The case against Vanguard was brought by the Insolvency Service, who discovered that the insolvency practitioner responsible for overseeing various (well, 14,000) IVAs did not properly explain to customers what their fees for facilitating their arrangements were being used for. Almost £9 million from Vanguard’s customers’ estates was paid to acronyms such as MDN and KIS, who were connected to Vanguard through close personal or family relationships.
(We must say, having read back the last two paragraphs, we think there really is cause for some quite serious concern here ...)
Vanguard traded in Manchester from 2016, using third-party suppliers to help administer the IVAs and realise debtors’ assets. Following various complaints about the activities of the business, the Insolvency Service decided to get involved and found that a number of the activities of the companies and its IP ..."lacked transparency" (in much the same way as the FA Cup Final played out on Saturday "lacked goals" from open play).
The Insolvency Service initiated winding-up proceedings in the best interests of the public, although they were initially defended by outraged directors of Vanguard determined to seek justice for themselves and their families and oppose the horrors of the state and its fascist crushing of impoverished working classes, before the trial began, the four companies confirmed that they would not oppose the proceedings without making any admissions.
So we have no idea what really went on ...
Claire Entwhistle of the Insolvency Service said: "This sends a strong message to volume IVA providers that if they do not deal with their cases properly and there is evidence of abuse, we will take strong action to protect customers and stop them".
It really does Claire (and "hoorah", by the way). We asked the former directors of Vanguard about their actions against the fascist state to seek justice for poor and the oppressed, but they were pixilated and we couldn't work out what they were saying.
