Birmingham boss inflated firm's assets to fraudulently buy goods

Mohammed Ikram over-inflated the assets of his company to secure credit from suppliers, the Insolvency Service said

A company director who deliberately filed false accounts and defrauded suppliers out of hundreds of thousands of pounds has been jailed.

Mohammed Ikram, 41, inflated assets to make fraudulent credit applications for £200,000 of goods he had "no intention" of paying for.

The Insolvency Service said the Derby firm was "cynically" used for fraud.

Ikram, from Birmingham, was convicted of fraudulent trading and was jailed for two years and three months.

Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he was also found guilty of filing false accounts and banned from being a company director for seven years on 22 March.

'No repayments made'

The Insolvency Service said he was appointed director in December 2016 of Maxxmed UK Ltd, which had been trading since 2009 as a general commercial company, but Ikram used it to commit fraud under his tenure.

In 2017, he filed accounts to Companies House stating assets of £335,006 and shareholders' funds of £202,333.

Both figures were falsely inflated and enabled Ikram to purchase goods on credit after successful credit checks, the Insolvency Service said.

The defendant bought specialist tools, kitchen products, mattresses, and timber, all of which were delivered to Maxxmed's address in Abbey Street, Derby.

No repayments were ever made and Maxxmed conducted no legitimate trading during the time Ikram, of Leominster Road, Birmingham, was director.

'Short-term fraud'

He resigned in August 2017 and the company moved to another address in Derby, before being dissolved in November 2019, the Insolvency Service added.

After his arrest in 2021, Ikram claimed he had no knowledge of the company.

Mark Stephens, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "Mohammed Ikram used his company as a vehicle to cynically commit short-term commercial fraud against creditors.

"Ikram deliberately submitted over-inflated accounts to Companies House with the intention of defrauding the company's suppliers by purchasing various goods which he never had any intention of ever paying for."