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Post Info TOPIC: First Gazette Notice for Voluntary Strike Off and Possible Fraud


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First Gazette Notice for Voluntary Strike Off and Possible Fraud


A friend has just asked this. It looks potentially serious, and rather urgent, but it's not the sort of thing I've ever had to deal with. Can anyone suggest if it's a serious as she thinks it might be, or what she might do?

"What does 'First Gazette Notice for Voluntary Strike Off' mean in a Companies House record? My mother has been hideously defrauded for 1000's of pounds and the company of the person who has done it has this in their Companies House record. We are worried that he is trying to get her to pay off all his debts and then he will shut the business down leaving her no way to get any of her money back. Would really appreciate an interpretation of the language."



-- Edited by EPF_Solutions on Saturday 1st of November 2014 10:54:56 PM



-- Edited by EPF_Solutions on Saturday 1st of November 2014 10:55:21 PM

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John


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A voluntary strike off means that the Company has decided to stop trading and have asked Companies House to shut down their Company.  Any company can do this providing they give 3 months notice of their intention to all creditors.  It usually happens when companies become insolvent and have no or little assets that can can be used to appoint a liquidator.

After the 3 months are up they pay £10 to CH who then list it in the London Gazzette.  If no one objects within 3 months CH will closed the Company down and mark it as Dissolved.

Is this person a creditor of the company or is it a case of being fleeced out of the money?  Has she made attempts to retrieve the money without success?

What she should do initially is object to the striking off, this will prevent the Company from being shut down, and give them at least 3 months in which to take any action needed.  Read Chapter 1 of the following link and it will give you some further understanding and how you go about objecting.  http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp4.shtml

After that it will be a question of how the defrauding has taken place as to how she can go about retrieving some or all of her money.

If I can help in any way I would be happy to do so.



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John



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Thanks John. I think she's been fleeced out of the money. Apparently the police have been informed, but reckon no crime has been committed, although my friend thinks/hopes they will change their mind when more information comes to light.

I've sent her the link to this discussion so she can follow it.

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John


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Hi
My understanding is that the company CANNOT be insolvent to go down this route and they have to have not traded in the last 3momths, although unscrupulous directors will go down this route as they often see it as an easy option. If you email or ring Companies house they will advise you about this and what you need to do next, although the info is also online.

You can stop this going further by petitioning against it, HRMC will certainly do that if they are owed money. If you do nothing then a second notice will go in the Gazette in 3months and the company would be dissolved 3months after this. I have seen repeated attempts to go through this process and Directors often set up other companies before they start the dissolution process off so they can continue to trade.

Go on Co House website, search the company and set a monitor alert on it, then if anything happens (via Co House only) it will be notified to you, whilst you continue your invesigations. Might also be worth checking out a. Director search via something like http://companycheck.co.uk/director/index (don't use their alerts though as there is often a massive time lag!)

Might be worth pushing it harder with the Police too, I saw a part of a programme on the TV recently that stated local police have no idea how to deal with Fraud...they should be referring ALL fraud cases to a dedicated fraud unit/department no matter how small, although this unit is badly understaffed and underfunded. Often the police just take a report and then don't follow it up...you have to push!!!! Try Trading Standards perhaps or the CAB....very useful in such circumstances.

Good luck



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 Joanne 

Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017 

Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.

You should check out answers with reference to the legal position



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Cheshire wrote:

Hi
My understanding is that the company CANNOT be insolvent to go down this route and they have to have not traded in the last 3momths, although unscrupulous directors will go down this route as they often see it as an easy option. If you email or ring Companies house they will advise you about this and what you need to do next, although the info is also online.



 If they have creditors they must inform them, stating the Company has ceased trading, have insufficient assets to afford liquidation, and give them the option to issue a winding up order.  As you rightly say they must then wait three months before applying for strike off, and issue any creditors with a copy of the DS01 form within 7 days of applying.

Companies can do this if they are insolvent PROVIDING they have insufficient assets to afford liquidation, indeed it is the correct route to go down.  Like you say though, the process can be abused and I very much suspect that is the case here.



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John



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Cheshire wrote:

Might be worth pushing it harder with the Police too, I saw a part of a programme on the TV recently that stated local police have no idea how to deal with Fraud...they should be referring ALL fraud cases to a dedicated fraud unit/department no matter how small, although this unit is badly understaffed and underfunded. Often the police just take a report and then don't follow it up...you have to push!!!! 


 The problem is, and this is from the other side of the fence, that so many people report what they consider to be frauds, but  are not.  In many cases it's been bad business practice rather than a criminal act of fraud.  Believe me, much as the police would love to file a report and ignore it, this is not possible.  There are so many checks and balances that even when all lines of enquiry have been exhausted it's still very difficult to file a crime.  Just blatantly failing to follow something up would be impossible without it being flagged up to management.

Regards

Kris



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