Carillion’s former finance director, Zafar Khan, has been disqualified as a director for 11 years.
According to the Insolvency Service, which is overseeing the liquidation of Carillion, Khan caused the contractor to rely on “false and misleading financial information for the preparation of consolidated financial statements for 2016”.
The 2016 statement misstated profits in relation to the performance of five major construction contracts: Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Battersea Power Station, Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, Midlands Metropolitan Hospital and Msheireb Phase 1B, in Qatar.
The Insolvency Service said: “The quantum of the misstatement is assessed as at least £208.5m, together with an adjusted year end loss of, at least, £(61.7m) in contrast to [Carillion] PLC’s reported profit before tax of £146.7m.”
“The Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of the secretary of state for business and trade, has accepted a disqualification undertaking from Zafar Iqbal Khan for 11 years for his conduct as a director of Carillion.
In 2021, the Insolvency Service launched legal action to ban eight of the collapsed contractor’s directors, including Khan. Court cases for the other seven directors are due to take place in October, although any of the remaining directors could take voluntary disqualification undertakings before then.
The Insolvency Service declined to comment on whether it was negotiating voluntary arrangements with any other former Carillion directors.