Companies Act 1985

300 Disqualification by reference to association with insolvent companies

(1) The court may make a disqualification order against a person where, on an application under this section, it appears to it that he—

(a) is or has been a director of a company which has at any time gone into liquidation (whether while he was a director or subsequently) and was insolvent at that time, and

(b) is or has been a director of another such company which has gone into liquidation within 5 years of the date on which the first-mentioned company went into liquidation,

and that his conduct as director of any of those companies makes him unfit to be concerned in the management of a company.

(2) In the case of a person who is or has been a director of a company which has gone into liquidation as above-mentioned and is being wound up by the court, " the court" in subsection (1) means the court by which the company is being wound up; and in any other case it means the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session.

(3) The Secretary of State may require the liquidator or former liquidator of a company—

(a) to furnish him with such information with respect to the company's affairs, and

(b) to produce and permit inspection of such books or documents of or relevant to the company,

as the Secretary of State may reasonably require for the purpose of determining whether to make an application under this section in respect of a person who is or has been a director of that company; and if a person makes default in complying with such a requirement, the court may, on the Secretary of State's application, make an order requiring that person to make good the default within such time as may be specified.

(4) For purposes of this section, a shadow director of a company is deemed a director of it; and a company goes into liquidation—

(a) if it is wound up by the court, on the date of the winding up order, and

(b) in any other case, on the date of the passing of the resolution for voluntary winding up.