Authorities in Northern Ireland have handed the boss of a former meat processing firm a six-year boardroom ban for misconduct.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment said it had accepted a disqualification undertaking from Aidan Rothwell in relation to his conduct as director at Fermanagh-based firm Tenderlean.
The company, which supplied pre-packaged beef, lamb and pork to supermarkets and convenience stores, went into administration in 2011 with debts of over £2m.
Rothwell admitted that he breached his duties by failing to pay staff wages totalling £132,534 over a 12 month period, allowing the company to continue trading for nearly a year while it was going insolvent and failing to insure the company’s assets, which resulted in losses of nearly £20,000 after a break-in at the site.
Rothwell is the second Tenderlean director to receive a boardroom ban. In November 2013, Mark McCaffrey agreed to a disqualification for nine years after admitting the same failures.
McCaffrey was also given an eight-year ban for misconduct as director at the previous company on the site - Tenderlean Meats – which was bought out of administration by a group of investors in 2010 after running up debts of nearly £7m.
Authorities said McCaffrey failed to pay the correct taxes, falsified accounting records, misused cheques and failed to file accounts.
Proceedings are continuing against a third director at Tenderlean.
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