TORY council leader Mike Jones’ liquidated firm has debts totalling £250,000 with more than £80,000 owed to the tax man.
Cllr Jones, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, is director of Saltney-based ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd which was wound up at a creditors’ meeting on Tuesday.
Major creditors were revealed as:
HM Revenue and Customs owed £80,945
Employees owed £64,884 for redundancy and holiday pay
Suppliers and sub-contractors owed £50,211
Nat West Bank, in Eastgate Street, owed £34,711.
The Nat West debt is secured against units, from where ASC operated, which transferred to associated company Hargrave Properties Ltd in 2007.
Cllr Jones himself is owed £20,218 after loaning his own money to the business to help keep it afloat.
Among the other unsecured creditors are local firms including Saltney-based A1 Scaff Ltd owed £1,174, Hoole Bank-based Deva Forge Fabrication owed £650, Hoole-based Brian J Watts owed £812 and Saltney-based Fast Frame Direct owed £648.
Last June ASC survived a winding-up petition raised by HMRC after a settlement was reached. At the time Cllr Jones believed trading conditions were about to improve but this proved too optimistic.
The final blow was when ASC lost a national contract for housing maintenance with effect from April 1 this year.
Neither Cllr Jones, who represents Tattenhall, nor the council is prepared to comment because the issue is regarded as a private matter.
