Azam Ali was the sole registered director of the company Pabna Restaurant Ltd (Pabna), which traded as an Indian restaurant in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

The restaurant began trading in 2006 as a family business owned by Azam Ali’s brother before Azam Ali took over the business in 2011. He then incorporated it as a limited company in March 2012.

The company catered to the West Yorkshire area and traded from property which the company owned in Ropergate, Pontefract. But in April 2017, the company entered into voluntary liquidation having not paid the right amount of tax.

The Insolvency Service carried out investigations following the company’s liquidation and found that Azam Ali caused the company to suppress and conceal sales figures, which meant the company under-declared and underpaid the correct amount of tax.

As a result, on 7 June 2018 the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Azam Ali where he did not dispute the Insolvency Service’s findings.

Effective from 28 June 2018, Azam Ali is now banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company for 9 years.

Commenting on the disqualification, Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Investigations for the Insolvency Service said:

The majority of businesses comply with statutory legislation. However, some companies fail to do so and deliberately underpay their taxes.

The ban of Azam Ali demonstrates our determination to clamp down on those directors who avoid paying the correct levels of tax and we will levy hefty periods of disqualification whether they cooperate or not.

Azam Ali stated he is of Bangladeshi nationality and gave his date of birth as November 1978.

Pabna Restaurant Ltd (Company Reg no. 07990640) and traded from property which the company owned at 19, Ropergate, Pontefract WF8 1LG.

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Details of Azam Ali’s disqualification is found here.

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

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.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, today (Monday 30th July) began his first major international trip since his appointment, visiting Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart and further enhance UK-China relations.

Foreign Secretary Hunt’s trip will build on the successful visit by the Prime Minister at the start of the year during which the two countries:

• signed major new commercial deals worth over £9 billion pounds, creating and securing jobs and prosperity in both the UK and China;
• agreed new measures to improve market access in China and remove barriers to trade, including an agreement which led to the lifting of the BSE ban on British beef exports last month;
• agreed to open up the Chinese market to enable UK financial services expertise to reach more Chinese consumers.

The Foreign Secretary will hold extensive discussions with Chinese State Counsellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi in the UK-China Strategic Dialogue. Topics expected to be discussed will be the importance of multilateralism and free trade and ways the UK and China can work together on global challenges such as climate change, development, security and non-proliferation and enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea. They will also explore ways to build on the already strong economic ties between the UK and China.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

The UK and China are both major powers with a global perspective. As the UK leaves the EU and becomes ever-more outward-looking, we are committed to deepening this vital partnership for the 21st century.

The UK-China Strategic Dialogue is an important opportunity to intensify our cooperation on shared challenges in international affairs, ranging from global free trade to non-proliferation and environmental challenges, under the UK-China Global Partnership and ‘Golden Era’ for UK-China relations.

Following his visit to China, the Foreign Secretary will be travelling to Paris and Vienna for talks with his counterparts on the UK’s exit from the EU, and international security issues such as the threat from Russia, the war in Syria, and the Iran deal.

Further information

A wave of electric cargo bikes, vans, quadricycles and micro vehicles could replace vans in UK cities as part of plans to transform last-mile deliveries, vastly reducing emissions and congestion around the country.

There are already 300,000 HGVs and over 4,000,000 vans on our roads and with online sales continuing to increase, this is likely to increase further. But new green delivery vehicles could replace the millions of conventionally-fuelled vans which are currently a common sight in city centres.

The plans are being outlined today (30 July 2018) as part of 2 government documents which offer a glimpse into how technology could transform transport, making it safer, more accessible and greener than ever.

Travel around the UK could dramatically change with the introduction of flying vehicles or widespread use of self-driving cars, all while data helps to delivers better journeys.

And the potential increased use of self-driving vehicles and shared travel could also allow the majority of parking spaces to be removed in city centres, opening areas up for redevelopment and potentially hundreds of thousands of new urban homes.

The ground-breaking developments are referenced in the government’s Last Mile and Future of mobility call for evidence documents, which have been published today.

The documents fire the starting gun on the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge, which aims to make the UK the world leaders in the movement of goods, services and people.

The work is all part of the government’s Industrial Strategy and the work could help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make travel safer, improve accessibility, and present enormous economic opportunities for the UK.

As part of this, the government is also today confirming £12.1 million of funding for 6 projects working on simulation and modelling to aid the development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. The capability will be essential for developing, testing and proving the safety of the vehicles.

Transport Minister Jesse Norman said:

The UK has a long and proud history of leading the world in transport innovation and our Future of Mobility Grand Challenge is designed to ensure this continues.

We are on the cusp of an exciting and profound change in how people, goods and services move around the country which is set to be driven by extraordinary innovation.

This could bring significant benefits to people right across the country and presents enormous economic opportunities for the UK, with autonomous vehicles sales set to be worth up to £52 billion by 2035.

Our Last Mile call for evidence and Future of Mobility call for evidence mark just one stage in our push to make the most of these inviting opportunities.

Societal changes are already changing the way people travel, with just some of the changes including people driving less overall; fewer workers commuting; a growing elderly population; and the number of people living in urban areas growing.

As a result, the government has used its Future of Mobility call for evidence to outline the below trends which could shape the future of transport in the UK:

• cleaner transport – the government has already outlined its intention for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040 – falling battery prices, improvements in electric vehicle technology and the development of alternative fuels are not only reducing emissions from existing modes of transport but paving the way for the uptake of new creations

• automation – improved sensors, increased computing power and the exciting potential of artificial intelligence are leading to increased automation in transport – the government has already said it expects to see fully self-driving cars on UK roads by 2021 and the benefits of automated transport could include increased safety, improved accessibility and better use of urban space

• data and connectivity – internet connected vehicles can not only link with each other, helping to avert congestion on roads, but also traffic lights and motorway signs – this could not only reduce traffic but also improve air quality

• new modes – UK cities are already pioneering the use of drones to support emergency services and improve infrastructure inspections – but the introduction of aerial passenger vehicles could also appear in urban areas, while the lines between taxis and buses could blur, with more on demand transport

• shared mobility – more use of shared transport could reduce congestion and emissions and examples are likely to include commercial ride sharing, car rental services where users rent from one another and shared use bikes

• changing consumer attitudes – technology is also changing the way people expect to be able to travel with more users expecting to be able to plan, book and pay for transport through their phones

• new business models – new business models are beginning to emerge, such as Mobility as a Service (Maas) – Maas can make payment easier, provide better real-time information and allow passengers to book multiple modes of transport with just one click

The government is expecting these trends to lead to safer travel, more accessible transport, cleaner journeys and make cities better to move around and live in.

Initial work as part of the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge will involve the government aiming to ensure we have explored all the regulatory barriers to technological and service innovation. Work will also take place to understand how data can be better used to improve transport.

Today’s publication of the Last Mile call for evidence and Future of Mobility call for evidence precedes a full Future of Urban Mobility Strategy, which is due to be published by the end of the year.

The news comes the same day as Ian Robertson, BMW UK Chief Executive, has been appointed as Business Champion to help advise, shape and develop the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge. He will be supported by an Advisory Council made up of Isobel Dedring, Tracy Westall and Stan Boland.

Ian Robertson, Future of Mobility Business Champion said:

A transport revolution in the way people and goods move around will see more changes in the next 10 years than the previous hundred. As the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge Business Champion, I’m looking forward to working with the government to help the UK build on its existing strengths and capitalise on that opportunity.