A North London property developer has been banned for four years for a £500,000 tax dodge. The disqualification follows an investigation by The Insolvency Service.
Walid Wasfi Wasif Musmar, director of Oberon Properties Ltd, has been disqualified from acting as a company director for four years for failing to pay corporation tax.
Oberon, who developed properties in Camden, north London, sold the last of its properties for £3,583,302 in May 2007 and incurred corporation tax of over £500,000 from the sale. This amount was due for payment in August 2008.
Musmar of Highgate and Antoni Fields of Barnet in London, both directors of Oberon, caused the company to pay £3,727,845, including loans totalling £640,000 to another company that they were directors of, but didn’t pay any of the corporation tax debt.
Fields gave an undertaking not to act as a director in relation to his conduct in Oberon Properties Ltd for four years from 16 November 2010. Musmar’s disqualification begins 14 December 2012.
Oberon went into liquidation on 19 December 2008 owing HMRC £535,563, in unpaid tax.
Mark Bruce, a chief examiner at The Insolvency Service, said: “Directors who seek an unfair advantage by not paying tax should not expect to get away with it. This conduct harms commercial confidence and the UK’s reputation as a place to do business.
“Other directors tempted to follow this path should remember that if they run a business in a way that is detrimental to its customers, its creditors or the public they lose the protection afforded by limited liability. The Insolvency Service will investigate them and seek to remove them from the business environment.”
