A former chief executive of collapsed contractor Carillion has been disqualified for eight years.
Richard Howson, who was chief executive of the company until 10 July 2017, caused the company to rely on false and misleading financial information for the preparation of consolidated financial statements for the years ending 31 December 2015 and 2016 to conceal the loss-making of major contracts, the Insolvency Service said.
The major contracts included Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Battersea Power Station, Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, Midlands Metropolitan Hospital and Msheireb Phase 1(B).
Howson also enabled the company to procure payments from technology consultancy Wipro in 2013, 2014 and 2016 which were wrongly reported and accounted for.
Carillion wrongly reported and accounted for such payments as profits, resulting in an overstatement of profit and an understatement of net debt, concealing from the auditors the true picture regarding Carillion’s obligation to make repayments to Wipro.
Howson caused Carillion to make Market Announcements on 7 December 2016, 1 March 2017 and 3 May 2017 which were misleading as to the reality of the company’s financial performance, position and prospects.
Additionally, Howson also caused Carillion to make a 2016 final dividend payment of £54.4m which could not be justified and was not in the interests of the company, its members or its creditors and was not one that Carillion could reasonably afford to make in view of its true financial performance.
An Insolvency Service spokesperson said: “The Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of the secretary of state for business and trade, has accepted a disqualification undertaking from Richard Howson for eight years for his conduct as a director of Carillion Plc.
“This follows the disqualification undertakings the Insolvency Service accepted from Zafar Khan on 29 June 2023 and from Richard Adam on 13 July 2023.
The litigation against the remaining directors is ongoing, with a trial set to commence the week of 16 October 2023.
