The bosses of a letting agency in east London have been collectively banned for a total of 13.5 years after abusing the tax authorities and failing to maintain company records.

Harrison Property Partners Ltd, which was incorporated 11 years ago, offered lettings and property management services. But the company, trading from offices in Tower Hamlets, went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in February 2018, triggering an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Investigators uncovered that Khushal Khagram, Andrew Matin and Alan George Clark had either failed to maintain company records or abused the tax regime, leading to all three being banned from running limited companies for a total of 13.5 years.

Clark, 39, of Benfleet, Essex, was the first to be banned for 3.5 years in August 2020 after investigators uncovered he failed to submit tax returns while he was a director from September 2013 until he resigned in July 2016 and traded to the detriment of the tax authorities.

Tax returns submitted after Clark left Harrison Property Partners showed that close to £191,000 was owed to the tax authorities following his misconduct.

The next director to be banned was 34-year-old Matin from Thames Ditton in Surrey. The property boss was removed from the Companies House register for 6 years in August 2021 after investigators exposed that Andrew Matin failed to ensure the company maintained sufficient accounting records and/or failed to deliver these to the liquidator.

Matin’s misconduct means it is not possible to verify many of Harrison Property Partners’ activities. This included verifying whether more than £770,000 spent was on legitimate business expenditure, confirming the nature of 50 payments to 3 accounts totalling £187,600, determining the level of remuneration taken by Matin, and the exact reasons for the property company’s insolvency.

During his time as director, Matin also failed to ensure the property company submitted tax returns between October 2016 and February 2018 and traded to the detriment of the tax authorities. Since the property company went into liquidation, the tax authorities are owed more than £309,000 in tax liabilities – a rise in liabilities owed compared to the tenue of Alan Clark.

An accountant by trade, Khagram, 52, of Finchley, north London, was the last of the directors to be banned just over two weeks ago for four years.

Investigators uncovered that Khagram had committed misconduct similar to both Clark and Matin’s in that he failed to ensure the property company submitted tax returns between October 2016 and February 2018 and traded to the detriment of the tax authorities.

As is the case with Martin, the tax liabilities owed by the company increased under Khagram’s directorship.

Khagram, Matin and Clark had their disqualification undertakings accepted by the Secretary of State and are banned 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, said: “All three property bosses totally disregarded their responsibilities as company directors. The absence of proper company records means we cannot verify legitimate business activities and the failure to submit tax returns means they also abused the taxpayer in the process.

“Some 13-and-a-half years is a considerable amount of time to be removed from the corporate arena and will protect creditors and the tax payer from any further harm caused by Khushal Khagram, Andrew Matin and Alan Clark.”