Village Energy Solutions Ltd was incorporated in February 2018 and Donna Lindsey Elaina Nada (51) was appointed a director of the company in August 2018.
By December 2019, however, proceedings had commenced to wind up Village Energy Solutions after one of the company's creditors petitioned the court to shut the company down.
The Official Receiver was appointed liquidator and as part of their duties, initiated an investigation into Donna Nada's conduct and the reasons why Village Energy Solutions failed.
Enquiries uncovered that the company was originally incorporated as providing real estate and management consultant services and in its first 9 months had three different names - Rasdale Solutions Ltd, Caffe Concerto Payroll Services Ltd and Concerto Payroll Services Ltd - before settling on Village Energy Solutions.
In interviews, Donna Nada, from Ilford, Essex informed the Official Receiver that the company traded from premises in North West London and provided payroll and HR services.
But due to Donna Nada's failure to ensure Village Energy Solutions Limited maintained and/or preserved adequate accounting records or provide any form of records to the liquidator, it was not possible to verify the true nature of £2.3 million of income and whether this accounted for all the company's sales and income.
Donna Nada's misconduct also meant it was not possible to determine the legitimacy of at least £1.8 million worth of payments out of the company's bank accounts.
The payroll boss also alleged that some of this money was used to buy expensive watches for investment purposes. But Donna Nada could not explain where the watches were or supply satisfactory documentation.
On 14 January 2022, The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted an undertaking from Donna Nada for 7 years.
The disqualification began on 4 February 2022 and means Donna Nada is banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.
Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Insolvent Investigations, said:
In just over a year, Village Energy Solutions received over £2.3 million, while paying out £1.8 million without any supporting documents to explain the millions of pounds worth of payments.
As director, Donna Nada was responsible for maintaining adequate company accounting records and due to her failure to carry out a statutory requirement has been removed from the corporate area for a substantial amount of time.
Notes
Donna Lindsey Elaina Nada's date of birth is February 1970.
Village Energy Solutions Ltd (Company Reg no. 11215024).
A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:
- act as a director of a company
- take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
- be a receiver of a company's property
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.
