The ban prevents Mr Singh Khaira from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company. His disqualification comes into effect today.

HK Construction was incorporated in May 2011 and provided groundwork construction services, including drainage and concreting. The company traded from premises in Coatbridge until July 2019.

In September 2019, the firm was subject to a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation and this brought HK Construction to the attention of the Insolvency Service.

Investigators found that between November 2011 and February 2015, Hardip Khaira knowingly caused the company to submit false tax returns. Some invoices had been brought down to zero-rated sales to reduce the company’s tax liability.

The tax authorities determined that just over £225,000 was owed by HK Construction, which increased to more than £426,000 when interest and penalties were applied for the deliberate concealment and failure to pay.

Aware of the liability owed to the tax authorities, Hardip Khaira placed the company into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation resulting in outstanding liabilities to the tax authorities of more than £426,000.

On 4 July 2020, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Hardip Singh Khaira after he did not dispute concealing tax to the detriment of the tax authorities.

Robert Clarke, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “It was clear from our investigations that Hardip Khaira deliberately caused the construction firm to submit false returns to reduce the amount of tax the company had to pay.

“This is serious misconduct and a nine-year ban not only demonstrates the severity of what Hardip Khaira has done but also confirms that we will take action to remove the privilege of limited liability against those who think they can do the same.”