Aberdeen call centre boss hit with 4-year ban for £1m tax abuse

Liam Mccreadie, 26, from Aberdeen, has been disqualified as a director for four years after failing to pay more than £1.1 million in taxes and not submitting tax returns for his two companies.

Mr Mccreadie was the sole director of two companies that both traded as a call centre business.

Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd, was incorporated in October 2017 and traded as AGO Outsourcing in both East Kilbride and Newcastle until it went into liquidation in October 2019, owing more than £794,000.

His other company, EK Sales Ltd, was incorporated in September 2017 — just a month before Lakemere went into liquidation — and took over trading as AGO Outsourcing until it also went into liquidation in October 2020 with debts of more than £515,000.

The call centre sites had been billed by AGO Outsourcing managers as “state of the art” sales centres but had reportedly become subject to disputes with staff overpayment of wages by October 2019.

The liquidation of the two companies led to an investigation by the Insolvency Service that found that Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd had not submitted tax returns between May and October 2019 and owed business and employee-related tax of around £629,000.

Investigators also discovered that EK Sales Ltd had failed to submit tax returns between December 2019 and August 2020 and owed business and employee-related tax of around £513,000.

Across both companies, the repeat abuse of tax led to a debt to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of more than £1,143,000.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Mr Mccreadie, after he didn’t dispute that he had failed to ensure that both Lakemere Global Holdings Ltd and EK Sales Ltd submitted returns and payment to HMRC and caused the companies to trade to the detriment of HMRC in respect of business and employee-related tax.

His disqualification starts on 7 November 2022 and lasts for four years. The ban prevents Mr Mccreadie from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation, or management of a company without the permission of the court.