Salma Restaurant owners banned from being company directors for combined 10 years after hiding income from the taxman

The directors of an Indian restaurant have been banned from owning a company after hiding substantial sums of money from the taxman.

Moynoor and Angura Rashid, who ran the Salma Restaurant in Wingham, have been disqualified from acting as directors of a business for a combined 10-and-a-half years.

The pair were punished after their firm, Salma Cuisine Limited, was found to owe HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) more than £400,000 when it went into liquidation in September last year.

The Salma Indian Restaurant in Wingham
The Salma Indian Restaurant in Wingham

Moynoor, 66, of Acacia Drive in Hersden, was banned for seven years and personally deemed to owe the taxman more than £80,000 for deliberately suppressing sales income.

Angura, 63, of Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, was disqualified for three-and-a-half years for allowing inaccurate returns to be submitted.

The bans followed a number of unannounced and undercover visits to the restaurant by HMRC between April and December 2013, where it tested the procedures for recording cash takings.

They found the company had failed to record cash sales and had therefore under-declared its VAT payments.

"The periods of these disqualifications sends a clear message to other company directors that tax abuse of any kind will not be tolerated, especially when takings are channelled to directors..." - David Brooks, Insolvency Service

Tax investigators calculated the company owed more than £85,000 and added over £52,000 in penalties.

HMRC also reassessed the firm’s corporation tax liabilities, saying it owed £135,000 due to its additional profit.

David Brooks, chief investigator with the Insolvency Service, said: “The periods of these disqualifications sends a clear message to other company directors that tax abuse of any kind will not be tolerated, especially when takings are channelled to directors.

“Much of the public service is funded by the correct taxes being paid. The public has been deprived from receiving the services it deserves.

“The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to remove bosses from the business environment in order to protect the public.”

KentOnline has been unable to reach anyone at the Salma Restaurant for comment.

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