Scots businesswoman paid daughter £200,000 in company money after firm collapsed

A Scottish businesswoman has been banned as a company director after paying her daughter £200,000 days after their firm collapsed.

Mother and daughter Hazel Lamont and Nicola Murray decided to wind up their Scotparts UK Ltd. company in 2023 as it was insolvent.

Lamont, 74, paid her daughter almost £200,000 in company money in the days following their decision to cease trading.

More than £300,000 had been paid into Scotparts’ bank account from a customer in the days before their decision to shut the company down, the Insolvency Service said.

Within one week of this payment, Lamont gave Murray £194,400 knowing that the company was insolvent and owed money to creditors.

The pair paid further amounts totalling £148,144 to two connected companies during the same period.

The firm, which had been trading since March 2006, was involved in the sale of machinery, industrial equipment, ships and aircraft.

However, by October 2023, the company was in financial trouble, and both Lamont and Murray jointly decided it should stop trading due to debts it was unable to pay.

Scotparts owed more than £900,000 when it went into liquidation in January 2024.

Lamont, of Howwood, and Murray, of Motherwell, have been banned as directors for the next nine years.

Mike Smith, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Hazel Lamont and Nicola Murray knew, or at the very least, ought to have known that their company had significant liabilities to creditors.

“Despite knowing the perilous financial state of their company, Lamont paid £194,400 to her daughter.

“This was not her money – it was company money which should have been paid to customers and suppliers.

“The pair also transferred money to two connected companies, again depriving creditors of these funds.

“Lamont and Murray have now been banned as company directors until May 2034 following our investigations into their misconduct.”

The secretary of state for Business and Trade accepted disqualification undertakings from Lamont and Murray, and their bans started on Tuesday, May 20 and Friday, May 23 respectively.

The undertakings prevent them from being involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.