A CROOKED businessman, jailed for swindling Mecca pilgrims out of £150,000, has been banned from acting as a company director for the next four years.

Mohammed Adris also received a further four month prison sentence, but it will not add to the sentence he is already serving.

Adris, 31, of Blackburn Road, Accrington, pleaded guilty to acting as a director of a company, Oriental Garden Limited, while an undischarged bankrupt and intentionally causing default by failing to preserve accounting records.

Michael Woosnam, for the department of Trade and Industry, said the company Adris was running went into liquidation in January 2002, owing £205,000.

"That represents a loss of £25,000 for every month that the company traded," said Mr Woosnam.

"When interviewed, Adris claimed it was a business purchased by his family for them to run and it had been undermined by a man who was working for them but also trading in competition.

"The prosecution say there is no evidence of any involvement by other members of the family." Sentencing Adris, District Judge Paul Firth said he was sure creditors of the company would have suffered as a result of the failure.

"You should not have been involved in the management of the company and you must have known that," he said.

"Others lost a considerable amount of money as a result of your actions."

Last month, Adris was jailed for three years by a judge at Burnley Crown Court after admitting two charges of theft, possessing a firearm and failing to surrender to bail.

He was meant to be sentenced in May 2003, but failed to appear in court and went on the run.

Adris had taken £150,000 from more than 200 people for a pilgrimage to Mecca.

But not only did they never make the trip, they never saw the cash again.

The participants, who came from Blackburn, Burnley and Pendle, well as Bury and Nottinghamshire, became concerned as the date of the trip got nearer and they had still not received any of their visas or tickets. They were due to fly to Saudi Arabia on February 11, 2002, but their passports were returned to organisers in Accrington and Nottingham.

When Adris was eventually arrested at Manchester Airport, officers found £20,000 on him.

Judge Raymond Bennett said Adris was "the last person in the world" who should be handling other people's money.