Despite disqualification from acting as a director for five years in 2000, Knight also continued to act as a director of several companies while bankrupt.
Knight, who returned from Panama to face justice, aged 67, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on 22 March 2017 after pleading guilty to 11 separate offences. The Judge also ordered Knight to undertake 100 hours unpaid work and be subject to a four month curfew between 8pm to 6am.
His conviction follows a prosecution by the Insolvency Service.
False payslips
Knight had instructed an employee to manufacture false pay slips in support of his associate’s mortgage applications.
After bankruptcy on 16 August 2000, he failed to inform the Official Receiver that some two months earlier, he had transferred his property in favour of the Linear Property Company Ltd.
The offences dated back to between 2000 and 2004 when Knight was both bankrupt and subject to a disqualification order, but Knight was improperly involved in a number of limited companies in the Gloucestershire area, one of which went into liquidation with creditors totalling £552,947.03.
Criminal investigation
Criminal proceedings were commenced against Royston Knight in 2004 by the then-Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), by which time, he had left the UK. A warrant was obtained for his arrest and in November 2015, on returning to the UK from Panama, Knight was arrested and brought before the court to face charges.
Deputy Chief Investigating Officer, Liam Mannall from the Insolvency Service said: “This case involved serious wrongdoing and is a demonstration of the long memory that justice retains.
“The insolvency regime should not be abused, nor should a disqualification order be ignored, the consequences are likely to catch up with those who ignore this.”
