Leeds company director gets suspended sentence over accounts

The director of a Leeds-based construction firm has been given a suspended prison sentence after failing to keep its accounting records up to date.

Eugenijus Nalivaika could not explain why his company, Niki Contractors Ltd, spent more than £800,000 on a fleet of 106 commercial vehicles.

Nalivaika, of Charlton Road in Leeds, was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence and given 250 hours of unpaid work when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to failing to keep accounting records at a hearing in February.

The Insolvency Service said Navilaika was appointed sole director of Niki Contractors in January 2020.

Its investigations revealed that the company made more than 4,300 payments to 614 people labeled “salaries” between April 2020 and January 2021.

Niki Contractors also made 106 payments totaling £869,670 for the purchase of vehicles, mainly older commercial vans, over a six-month period.

More than £4.5m was paid to Niki Contractors from other companies over the same period.

Nalivaika did not explain any of the payments and did not hand over the company’s records to the Insolvency Service or the liquidator when requested.

The company was liquidated with debts of more than £2.5m and Nalivaika’s breaches prevented the liquidator from being able to investigate the company’s accounts.

Mark Stephens, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said Nalivaika enjoyed the advantages of running a limited company “without accepting the responsibilities that come with it”.

“Directors must ensure that adequate records are kept, archived and preserved.”

“This is to protect consumers and other businesses that have dealings with the company.

“Nalivaika failed to do so and this sentence sends a strong signal to the business community that such blatant disregard for keeping accounts up to date will not be tolerated.”

In addition to the suspended prison sentence, he was ordered to pay costs of £4,714.30.

He was also banned from being a company director for seven years in separate civil proceedings opened by the Insolvency Service.