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Nowhere is far enough away

Member: Nifa

Duncan Bannatyne must certainly have a lot on his mind just now. Gruelling tests on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here may be preferable to facing an investigation on his arrival in the UK. 

According to the Daily Mail, when the former Dragons’ Den star and health club entrepreneur returns from Australia, he could face a police investigation for his conduct during his 2012 divorce from his second wife.

The paper alleges that Bannatyne hid assets from his wife and asked a colleague to understate the value of his business. He apparently also set-up offshore companies and bank accounts in tax havens in Monaco and the British Virgin Islands in a bid to keep his payment to his ex-wife to a minimum.

Mr Bannatyne is now embroiled in a £10 million civil court case with his former colleague, Nigel Armstrong, former CEO of the Bannatyne Group, who claims he refused to lie for the millionaire only to be turned on and sacked without a promised £6 million severance package. Amongst other things, Mr Armstrong alleges that Mr Bannatyne tried to get him to undervalue the firm by £10 million, used company funds for his own purposes and altered company minutes.

In a complex case such as this, forensic accountants would be invaluable, because in addition to scrutinising the figures, they will look at offshore accounts, go through records, read emails and company records and generally investigate the ‘bigger picture’ before presenting their findings to the court.

Author: Roger Isaacs, 30 November 2015


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