Suspended jail sentence for former restaurant owner who paid himself and others nearly £100K after company went into liquidation
The former owner of a Chinese restaurant who paid himself £100,000 when the restaurant went into liquidation has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Patrick Lau, aged 46, has been sentenced to 16 months imprisonment suspended for two years after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud under the Insolvency Act 1986.
Lau had been sole director of Big Wok Ltd, which traded as a Chinese buffet restaurant in Birmingham until it went into liquidation in 2018.
His company had been insolvent from at least March 2018, but despite correctly seeking advice from an insolvency practitioner, Lau proceeded to make payments of nearly £100,000 to himself and two other individuals, rather than repay his debts as legally required to do.
Amongst the debts was £30,000 in unpaid tax. Following an initial investigation by the Insolvency Service, Lau signed a six-year disqualification undertaking which came into effect on 15 December, 2020.
However, he did not engage with the subsequent Insolvency Service criminal investigation, and he had relocated to Hong Kong by 2020.
Due to his lack of co-operation, Lau was placed on a UK Border alert list and the Insolvency Service secured an arrest warrant when notified that Lau was flying to the UK on January 27, 2023.
He pleaded guilty to all charges at Birmingham Magistrates Court on March 2, 2023. He was sentenced on May 24 at Birmingham Crown Court.
The court also ordered that he pay £3,000 in costs and complete 200 hours unpaid work.
John McFadian, chief examiner at the Insolvency Service said: “As the judge pointed out during sentencing, this kind of behaviour is not a victimless crime. It causes real hardship to innocent creditors, and has resulted in the public purse being short-changed.”
