Yue Chang Dai (56), from Dartford, Kent, was the sole director of Good View Da Ltd. The company was incorporated in April 2016 and traded as the Good View takeaway on Watling Street in Dartford.

Good View Da, however, was unable to pay its debts and the company was placed into creditors voluntary liquidation in October 2019 before Yue Chang Dai’s conduct was referred to the Insolvency Service for further enquiries.

Investigators found that Yue Chang Dai had deliberately concealed the true amount of take away orders to avoid paying tax worth just under £265,000.

In total at liquidation, Yue Chang Dai owed the tax authorities almost £364,000, including penalties and interest.

On 21 December, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Yue Chang Dai after he did not dispute that he failed to ensure that Good View Da Ltd submitted accurate tax returns by supressing the business’s turnover.

Effective from 11 January 2021, Yue Chang Dai’s is banned for 7 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Director of Insolvent Investigations for the Insolvency Service, said:

From the very start of trading, Yue Chang Dai deliberately supressed takings with the sole intention of avoiding paying the correct amount of taxes.

He thought he could walk away from his responsibilities without repercussions but instead Yue Chang Dai’s actions means he has been disqualified from the catering industry and the wider business environment for a significant period.

Yue Chang Dai’s date of birth is December 1964.

Good View Da Ltd (Company Reg no. 10119008).

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.

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:

Today (7 January 2021), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published the latest list of businesses handed fines for breaching strict regulations aimed at preventing criminals from laundering illicit cash.

The list includes money transfer company MT Global Limited, which has been handed the largest ever fine issued by HMRC, for significant breaches of the regulations between July 2017 and December 2019 relating to:

• risk assessments and associated record-keeping
• policies, controls and procedures
• fundamental customer due diligence measures

Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of Economic Crime, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said:

Businesses who fail to comply with the money laundering regulations leave themselves, and the UK economy, open to attacks by criminals.

Money laundering is not a victimless crime. Criminals use laundered cash to fund serious organised crime, from drug importation to child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and even terrorism.

We’re here to help businesses protect themselves from those who would prey on their services. That includes taking action against the minority who fail to meet their legal obligations under the regulations as this record fine clearly shows.

HMRC supervises more than 30,000 businesses across the UK, including 1,500 principal money service businesses (MSBs), and helps these firms protect themselves from criminals who seek to launder cash or finance terrorism.

Webinars, guidance and e-learning is available here to help guide and educate businesses on their money laundering responsibilities.

HMRC works closely with partner law enforcement agencies and government departments to reduce the criminal abuse of the sector through tightened registration, greater understanding of the risks, and joint periods of concerted action focussing on those MSBs at greatest risk of being used by organised crime.

In 2019 to 2020 HMRC completed 2,000 interventions on supervised businesses, issued penalties totalling £9.1 million and stopped 89 non-compliant businesses and individuals from trading. It also recouped over £166 million from the proceeds of crime, of which more than £22 million was linked to money laundering offences – sending a very clear message that crime doesn’t pay.

Further information

In accordance with our responsibilities under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) 2017, HMRC publishes details of businesses failing to comply with the MLRs who have received a penalty.

Money laundering is the process through with criminals disguise the criminal origin of money and assets they earned through criminal activity. Anti-money laundering guidance for MSBs is available on GOV.UK

Serious and organised crime costs the UK billions of pounds every year and HMRC’s anti-money laundering supervision is a vital tool in combatting that. Money laundering regulations are in place to prevent criminals benefitting from the proceeds of crime and to help tackle money laundering/terrorist financing, human trafficking, drugs, prostitution and other organised crime.

Using a range of civil penalties and prosecutions, HMRC responds effectively to businesses who fail to comply with the money laundering regulations.

Last year, HMRC announced a £7.8 million fine against a London MSB that ignored anti-money laundering regulations. HMRC, Metropolitan Police (MPS) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also carried out a month-long crackdown in July 2019 on MSBs at risk of being used for money laundering to fund organised crime.

HMRC has a range of enforcement powers that it can use for businesses who do not comply with the money laundering regulations, including civil penalties, criminal proceedings and removal from the register. Any of these sanctions can be used in combination. HMRC can:

• issue a financial penalty
• issue a censuring statement
• impose a suspension on management of a relevant business upon a person
• impose a prohibition on management of a relevant business upon a person
• suspend a registration
• cancel a registration
• decide a relevant person in a business is no longer fit and proper, which will lead to either suspension or prohibition on management, or suspension or cancellation of the business’ registration
• obtain a court injunction
• refer a case for criminal investigation and potential prosecution

HMRC supervises around 1,500 principal MSBs, which together have 31,000 operating premises.

The number of operating MSBs supervised by HMRC has fallen by 19 per cent since August 2017, mostly due to continuing action to tackle the use of MSBs for the laundering of dirty money. However, the government recognises the majority of MSBs are compliant with money laundering regulations.

Information about money service business guidance for money laundering supervision is available on GOV.UK.

HMRC promotes help and education for those businesses that need it, including webinars, e-learning and guidance. These activities enable us to educate a larger audience than could be covered by traditional visits or events. Recordings of these webinars can be found on GOV.UK.

The UK was rated as having the most robust processes in the world for tackling money laundering by the Financial Action Task Force in its last UK report and HMRC has played a key part in that.

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Plans to consult on gene editing – which could unlock substantial benefits to nature, the environment and help farmers with crops resistant to pests, disease or extreme weather and to produce healthier, more nutritious food – will be set out today (7 January) by Environment Secretary George Eustice in his speech at the Oxford Farming Conference.

The way that plants and animals grow is controlled by the information in their genes. For centuries, farmers and growers have carefully chosen to breed stronger, healthier individual animals or plants so that the next generation has these beneficial traits – but this is a slow process.

Technologies developed in the last decade enable genes to be edited much more quickly and precisely to mimic the natural breeding process, helping to target plant and animal breeding to help the UK reach its vital climate and biodiversity goals in a safe and sustainable way.

Gene editing is different to genetic modification where DNA from one species is introduced to a different one. Gene edited organisms do not contain DNA from different species, and instead only produce changes that could be made slowly using traditional breeding methods. But at the moment, due to a legal ruling from the European Court of Justice in 2018 gene editing is regulated in the same way as genetic modification.

The consultation announced today will focus on stopping certain gene editing organisms from being regulated in the same way as genetic modification, as long as they could have been produced naturally or through traditional breeding. This approach has already been adopted by a wide range of countries across the world, including Japan, Australia and Argentina.

Government will continue to work with farming and environmental groups to develop the right rules and ensure robust controls are in place to maintain the highest food safety standards while supporting the production of healthier food.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, Environment Secretary George Eustice will say:

Gene editing has the ability to harness the genetic resources that mother nature has provided, in order to tackle the challenges of our age. This includes breeding crops that perform better, reducing costs to farmers and impacts on the environment, and helping us all adapt to the challenges of climate change.

Its potential was blocked by a European Court of Justice ruling in 2018, which is flawed and stifling to scientific progress. Now that we have left the EU, we are free to make coherent policy decisions based on science and evidence. That begins with this consultation.

Consulting with academia, environmental groups, the food and farming sectors and the public is the beginning of this process which, depending on the outcome, will require primary legislation scrutinized and approved by Parliament.

Professor Robin May, the Food Standards Agency’s Chief Scientific Advisor, welcomed the consultation and said:

The UK prides itself in having the very highest standards of food safety, and there are strict controls on GM crops, seeds and food which the FSA will continue to apply moving forward.

As with all novel foods, GE foods will only be permitted to be marketed if they are judged to not present a risk to health, not to mislead consumers, and not have lower nutritional value than existing equivalent foods. We will continue to put the consumer first and be transparent and open in our decision-making. Any possible change would be based on an appropriate risk assessment that looks at the best available science.

Sir David Baulcombe, Regius Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, said:

The overwhelming view in public sector scientists is that the Nobel Prize winning methods for gene editing can accelerate the availability of crops and livestock for sustainable, productive and profitable agriculture. I welcome the DEFRA consultation that will help with a broader assessment of gene editing as an appropriate technology in agriculture.

Aside from gene editing, the consultation will also begin a longer-term project to gather evidence on updating our approach to genetic modification by gathering information on what controls are needed and how best to deliver them. We want our regulations to be in step with the current science and the knowledge we have learned from 30 years of existing regulation.

The consultation will run for ten weeks from Thurs 7th January to Weds 17 March at 23:59. The full consultation document will shortly be available here on Citizen Space when published at 00:15 and applies to England only.

During his speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, the Environment Secretary is also expected to pay tribute to the farming industry after a challenging year and note the beginning of the Agricultural Transition Period announced in November.