A PRESTON man was disqualified from acting as a director of a company for five years, at Manchester County Court last Thursday.

The order disqualifies Iqbal Mohammed Ayyub, of Garstang Road, Preston, from being a director of a company or in any way, directly or indirectly, concerned in or taking part in the promotion, formation or management of a company for that period.

The disqualified order was made in respect of his conduct as a director of Joe Cool (Manchester) Ltd, which traded as a fashion retailer, in Bury New Road, Manchester, for around eight years.

The company was placed into voluntary liquidation on June 18, 1997, with an estimated deficiency to creditors of £1,018,330, of which £1,011,657 related to trade creditors.

The matters of unfit conduct found by the court were that Mr Ayyub:

Caused the company to continue to trade when he knew, or ought to have known, that the company was insolvent from a least November 1996 and, as such, trading was to the detriment of creditors;

Failed to ensure that the company preserved and/or delivered adequate accounting records as required by the Companies legislation;

Failed to ensure that audited accounts were filed with the Registrar of Companies as required by the Companies legislation; and

That he misused the company's bank account in that he tendered cheques to creditors at a time when he knew or ought to have known that there was insufficient funds in the account to honour those cheques.

The Secretary of State was represented in court by Messrs Cobbetts of Manchester.

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