Author Archives: HM Government

Moynoor and Angura Rashid, directors of Salma Cuisine Limited which traded as Salma Restaurant, based in the village of Wingham near Canterbury, have been disqualified from acting as company directors following investigations by the Insolvency Service and HMRC.

Both gave disqualification undertakings to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Moynoor Rashid banned for seven years and Angura Rashid for three and a half years.

At liquidation, the company owed in excess of £400,000 to HMRC.

An in-depth HMRC investigation revealed significant suppression of cash takings resulting in a VAT assessment of £85,794 and additional penalties of £52,897 being raised. HMRC also reassessed the company’s Corporation Tax liability to be £135,009.

Mr Moynoor Rashid was also issued with a personal liability notice of £80,967 due to the deliberate suppression of sales income.

Commenting on the disqualification, David Brooks a Chief Investigator with the Insolvency Service said:

The periods of these disqualifications sends a clear message to other company directors that tax abuse of any kind will not be tolerated, especially when takings are channelled to directors.

Much of the public service is funded by the correct amount of taxes being paid. By not declaring and paying the correct amount of taxes, the public has been deprived from receiving the services it deserves from the public sector. The Insolvency Service therefore will not hesitate to remove bosses from the business environment in order to protect the public.

Moynoor Rashid, 66, and Angura Rashid, 63, were directors of Salma Cuisine Limited, which was incorporated in July 2004.

Moynoor Rashid – date of birth, February 1952 – is of Canterbury, Kent. Moynoor Rashid has been disqualified for 7 years from 11 September 2017.

Angura Rashid – date of birth December 1954 – is of Canterbury, Kent. Angura Rashid has been disqualified for 3.5 years from 19 September 2017.

Salma Cuisine Limited (CRO No. 05168198) was incorporated on 1 July 2004 and was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 16 September 2016.

One of the main purposes of the Company Directors Disqualification Act is to ensure that proper standards of conduct of company directors are maintained and to raise those standards where appropriate.

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, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, 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.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

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With the world’s population set to increase to almost 10 billion by 2050, providing future generations with safe and sustainable farmed seafood is the critical aim of a new collaboration between the Centre for Environment, Aquaculture and Fisheries Science (Cefas) and the University of Exeter.

The Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Futures has been launched today by Environment Secretary Michael Gove, with an ambition of bringing together world-leading scientists to ensure the key challenges facing sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry are better understood, both at home and internationally. The centre will focus on aquatic animal health, food safety and protection of the aquatic environment – in support of international food security and sustainable “blue” growth.

Key issues to be addressed by the centre include:

• providing scientific support to reduce the $6bn annual losses due to disease in aquaculture
• providing evidence and tools to ensure that fish, shellfish, crustaceans and seaweeds produced in the global industry are safe to eat
• understanding how cutting edge molecular diagnostics, pathology, animal breeding and nutrition can be applied to assist seafood farmers, particularly in more vulnerable societies
• ensuring that aquaculture is developed sustainably, for the benefit of communities, economies and the environment.

Speaking at Cefas’ annual science conference, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

As we work towards a Green Brexit, it is crucial we tackle the challenges facing our marine environment and Cefas’ commitment to scientific research and innovation has never been so important.

The new centre not only establishes our position as a world leader in marine science and sustainability, but will prove critical to the health of our fisheries and the economic vitality of our coastal areas – helping us in our continued drive to leave the environment in a better state for the next generation.

Speaking on behalf of the new centre, co-Director and pathologist Professor Grant Stentiford from Cefas said:

The launch of this centre is timely – by acting now to apply UK science expertise to the barriers that currently stand in the way of a safe and sustainable future aquaculture industry, we will help ensure food security for future generations and continue to support our national, as well as international commitments to the environment.

For the first time, government and academic science related to aquaculture sustainability is coming together in support of development and consolidation of the global industry.  The Centre will co-design solutions in national, regional and global aquaculture sustainability and is uniquely positioned to support the rapidly expanding global aquaculture industry.

A Strategic Alliance has existed between the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the University of Exeter since 2012. The Alliance combines the complementary capabilities of a cutting-edge Government laboratory and, a leading Russell Group University. The alliance has increasingly focussed on solving intractable problems in the sustainable supply of food from the aquatic environment.

Professor Charles Tyler, co-Director of the centre from the University of Exeter said:

We are delighted to be able to strengthen our collaboration with Cefas in the area of aquaculture. Making aquaculture ‘work’ for the environment and for society is a grand challenge and one which requires both broad thinking and, a truly interdisciplinary scientific team.

Given that animal disease and food safety present two of the most significant hurdles to sustainable production, we will place major focus on scientific research and advice where the impact to industry and society will be highest.

Examples of current projects that the centre will take forward include:

• 10 joint PhD studentships in aquatic animal health and food safety funded between 2015-2020
• Joint aquaculture health projects funded by Newton/BBSRC in India, Bangladesh and Malawi
• Newton funded programmes in Thailand, focussed on new models for controlling disease in aquaculture.

Whilst linking up specialists from across the University, the new Centre will closely align with the recently-opened Living Systems Institute, a world-class collaborative research facility focused on the mitigation of disease in plants, animals and humans.

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