Recruitment consultant guilty of Covid fraud

RECRUITMENT consultant from the west end of Newcastle has been sentenced for various offences including Covid fraud, flouting director disqualifications and running a phoenix company while bankrupt.

- TOM KEIGHLEY

> Lucien Ekamba-Elombe was sentenced for a string of offences including Covid fraud, flouting director disqualifications and running a phoenix company while bankrupt

Lucien Ekamba-Elombe, of Union Hall Road, set up a recruitment firm under a similar name to his previous failed company while legally banned from doing so.

The 50-year-old was made bankrupt in July 2019 having failed to pay council tax. The company he was a director of - United Recruitment and Employment Limited - had gone into liquidation months earlier.

He set up Unify Group Limited in September 2019, despite his bankruptcy making it illegal to act as a company director.

Unify Group traded under a similar name to its insolvent predecessor, breaching the Insolvency Act 1986, which bans directors from reusing a company name to evade creditors after insolvency.