Tory council leader Mike Jones’s failed company left the taxpayer out of pocket to the tune of almost £90,000, according to the liquidator’s final report.
Cllr Jones, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, was a director of Saltney-based electrical, plumbing and building firm ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd which was wound up at a creditors’ meeting in March 2012.
A report by liquidator Parkin S Booth & Co reveals HM Revenue and Customs lost £80,945 in PAYE and VAT. Former employees – owed £64,883 in pay, lieu of notice and redundancy – received £6,977 from the Government’s National Insurance fund.
Total assets realised were £29,663 but these were completely swallowed up by costs, including the liquidator’s fees of £18,549.
Other major creditors included:
Suppliers and sub-contractors owed £50,211.
Cllr Jones himself owed £20,218 after loaning his own money to the business to help keep it afloat.
NatWest Bank, in Eastgate Street, owed £34,711.
No matters were raised during the liquidation that justified further investigation. As a matter of course, the liquidator was required to submit a confidential report to Secretary of State concerning the conduct of any past or present directors.
Liquidator Ian C Brown in his report, dated February 13, 2014, concluded: “The winding up of the company is now for all practical purposes complete and I am able to summon final meetings of the company’s members and creditors to receive my final report and seek my release as liquidator.”
