A Scots coffee wholesaler boss has been disqualified as a company director for nine years with thousands of pounds of finances still unaccounted for.
Filippo Dioguardi, 58, who resides in Glasgow, was appointed sole director of Camardo Coffee (Scotland) Ltd in November 2019 but it went into liquidation shortly afterwards in August 2020.
The last filed accounts showed assets totalling over £800,000, but due to the lack of company records kept by Dioguardi, it was impossible for the liquidator or the Insolvency Service to establish the accuracy of these, or whether any assets were disposed of at fair value and to the benefit of the company or its creditors.
Italian-national Dioguardi refused to co-operate with the Insolvency Service investigation, which also identified he had taken out a taxpayer-backed Bounce Back Loan of £50,000 on May 27, 2020, less than two months before liquidation, Glasgow Live reports.
The investigation also uncovered huge outgoings from the company account between April 2020 and August 2020 of nearly £150,000, including cash withdrawals of over £70,000.
The Insolvency Services could not establish whether these funds were used for legitimate business use or for repaying creditors.
Camardo Coffee (Scotland) Ltd formed in 2015 and was registered initially at an address in East Kilbride, before relocating to Glasgow around May 2018. Dioguardi was then appointed as a director in September 2019.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Dioguardi after he admitted failing to maintain or preserve, or provide, adequate accounting records.
His ban will run until March 2031 and prevents him from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.
Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator at The Insolvency Service said: "Keeping proper records is a pivotal duty for directors and there is no place in the corporate arena for those who neglect their responsibilities in this area and thereby cover up the activities of the companies they manage.
"The lack of records in this case made it impossible to determine whether there was other, more serious, misconduct involved and what became of £50,000 in Government backed funds which have not been accounted for. This is reflected in the lengthy period of disqualification."
