Disgraced Hartlepool businessman illegally ran company while already banned

Former Hartlepool care home boss Matt Matharu was jailed in 2015 after a 90-year-old woman fell and died after climbing out of an insecure upstairs window at one of his town premises.

Declared bankrupt in 2016, he was unable to act as a director without permission from the courts.

Yet an investigation by the Official Receiver two years later into the failure of another firm, Abba North East, discovered that he was actually running it.

Matharu, 55, is now disqualified as a director for nine years after signing a legal undertaking at the end of February.

Abba North East’s registered director, Hartlepool man Andrew Phillip Bood, 37, is banned as a director for four years until December 2023 for failing in his duties as a director of the firm.

The business started trading in January 2017 with the aim of buying properties to refurbish before selling on for a profit.

The Insolvency Service says the firm failed to pay suppliers for goods and was wound-up by the courts in May 2018 following a creditor’s petition.

Matharu is now banned from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Robert Clarke, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: "When Matt Matharu was made bankrupt, it was clearly explained to him that he couldn’t be involved in managing a company.

“At the time he was active at Abba North East, he also told the trustee of his bankruptcy that he was unemployed.

"It is imperative that companies are transparent in their dealings so that other businesses know exactly who is managing the company and those who seek to hide their involvement, as well as those who aid the deception, can expect to be removed from the corporate arena for a lengthy period."

Matharu, of Elwick Road at the time of his Teesside Crown Court trial, was jailed for eight months after he was convicted of two health and safety breaches following Norah Elliott’s death at Parkview Residential Care Home, in Station Road, Seaton Carew, in 2012.