HC Deb 18 February 1970 vol 796 cc129-30W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many letters of complaint he has received, and from whom, concerning the administration of the affairs of the Dollar Land Holdings; when these were received; and what action he took upon these before the formal request for a Board of Trade investigation was received by his Department on 10th February, 1970.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

In the last 2 months letters of complaint have been received from or on behalf of 5 shareholders of Dollar Land Holdings Ltd. In general, they were informed that on the information available there appeared to be no justification for the appointment by the Board of Trade of an inspector under Section 165(b) of the Companies Act, 1948, to investigate the affairs of the company.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the President of the Board of Trade on what date he received an application from the Directors of Dollar Land Holdings for an extension of time to lay the accounts of the company before its shareholders; what were the grounds for this delay; and whether he granted this permission and for what reasons.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

An application on the grounds of delay in the certification of the accounts of a subsidiary company was received on 8th December, 1969. It was refused.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) why, in view of the fact that he had been notified that Dollar Land Holdings was contravening the Companies Act in that a man who was not qualified to be a director declared himself chairman of the company and issued a statement that he had signed a balance sheet knowing there was a £1 million deficit, he did not take action to enforce the Companies Act;

(2) whether he is aware that the Dollar Land Holdings Company has for months contravened the Companies Act, in that it has no directors, no accounts have been published, meetings have been illegally called and held, persons purporting to be directors have issued false balance sheets; and whether he will ensure that these matters are taken into account in his consideration of the request for a formal investigation.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

These and other relevant matters are being taken into account by the Board in considering whether to appoint inspectors to investigate the affairs of the company.