Board room ban for Bangor restaurateurs

Two Bangor restaurateurs have been banned from the board room after they admitted diverting cash from the business to their personal accounts.

Paul Stephen O’Kane (49) of Clifton Gate in the town and Amanda O’Kane (42) of Dunkeld Chase were also unable to account for cash amounts of at least £651,890 that appeared in their accounts.

During the period of trading, the directors also understated sales revenue which resulted in a loss of £322,613.47 in unpaid taxes.

Paul and Amanda O’Kane were directors of D&L Platinum (NI) Ltd. and operated licensed restaurants at Donaghadee Road and Main Street in Groomsport. The business went into liquidation on March 21, 2016, owing creditors more than £408,000.

The Department for the Economy accepted disqualification undertakings of 10 years from Paul O’Kane and six years from Amanda O’Kane on May 30 this year.

Their actions were found to have contributed to the insolvency of the company. The Department also deemed that the directors had failed to keep accurate accounting records in breach of the Companies Act 2006.

Their disqualification means that both will be banned from acting as company directors and from being involved either directly or indirectly in the promotion, formation or management of a limited company.

The Department has accepted four disqualification undertakings in the financial year commencing April 1, 2019.