March 11, 13

NEWS / British flooring company businessman banned from directorship for fake invoices

A British businessman was banned from being a company director for 11 years for presenting invoices to a financing company for work that had not been done.

Keith Sidney Wayment, the former director of Wayment Flooring Specialists (WFS), was also barred from becoming a company controller or manager by the Medway County Court until at least 2024.

WFS specialized in providing floor laying services for office refurbishments, new buildings and retail outlets before it ceased trading in 2010 and went into compulsory liquidation in 2011. By that time, the company had incurred losses of over UK£1,300,000 (approximately US$1,937,000).

WFS had been using the services of a financing company, Invoice Financing Company (IFC), to collect payments from its clients by sending invoices for any work they had done. When the company began to experience financial difficulties in 2009, Wayment began to present ‘forward’ invoices for work that had not been finished. The company was not legally entitled to the payments.

Shortly before the company was wound up by HM Revenue & Customs (the British government agency responsible for taxation and customs, somewhat analogous to the US Internal Revenue Service), it received a letter from IFC in which the financing company demanded a compensation for its services amounting toUK£722,699 (approximately US$1,076,822). This included UK£582,475 (about US$867,888) that was received through the bogus invoices, as well as UK£190,194 (roughly US$283,389) in outstanding charges.

“Directors who utilize an invoice financing company as an involuntary bank and source of cash flow, show total disregard for suppliers and the business community generally,” Medway Official Receiver Andrew Stanley was quoted by This is Kent as saying. “The disqualification order made in this case sends a clear message to other company directors that if they run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors, they will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment for a long time.”