Jailed restaurant owner served with directorship ban

Jilan Moore (68) was the director of Beijing Dragon Catering Limited, the company that acted as the trading vehicle for three licensed restaurants across Lincolnshire known as ‘The Beijing Dragon’.

Beijing Dragon Catering was incorporated in September 2007 and at the company’s height, Jilan Moore ran three restaurants in Spilsby, Grimsby and Skegness with her husband.

From 2013, Jilan Moore ran the restaurants as the sole director before closing down one of the eateries in Skegness and by September 2016, the trading company went into liquidation.

The insolvency of Beijing Dragon Catering triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service, when investigators discovered that the tax authorities had previously dealt with the company after they picked-up that Beijing Dragon Catering’s records did not match the returns they had officially submitted.

The tax authorities discovered that Beijing Dragon Catering deliberately suppressed sales and under-declared tax owed for just over a year between February 2014 and April 2015.

The authorities sought to reclaim just over £100,000 in unpaid taxes but Beijing Dragon Catering could not afford to pay its debts, which forced the trading company to go into liquidation.

On 15 January 2019, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Jilan Moore, after she admitted causing Beijing Dragon to submit five false tax returns which deliberately under-declared tax owed on sales.

Effective from 5 February 2019, Jilan Moore is banned for nine years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Two years prior to her directorship disqualification, Jilan Moore was sentenced in March 2017 to two years imprisonment having been found guilty of tax fraud. She has since been released from jail.

Dave Elliott, Chief Examiner for the Insolvency Service, said:

This wasn’t a case of Jilan Moore simply forgetting to pay the correct tax, rather she deliberately and wilfully suppressed sales and under-declared her tax contributors to avoid paying what she rightfully owed.

This disqualification will send a clear message to other company directors that tax abuse of any kind, particularly when it comes to suppression of takings, will not be tolerated.

Notes to editors

Jilan Moore is of Spilsby and her date of birth is March 1950

Beijing Dragon Catering Limited (Company Reg no. 06199908).

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.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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