The £67MILLION debt plot sisters

CREDITORS LOSE OUT FROM 'COMPANY RESCUE SERVICE'

- BY SALLY HIND and MARK McGIVERN

TWO sisters have been named as “key” players in an insolvency avoidance scheme which left creditors £67million in debt.

Joanna Seawright, 54, who lives in Dumfries, and Karen Mortimer, 67, who now lives in Tenerife, were instrumental in a scheme offering “company rescue services’, allowing struggling firms to wind up without facing massive liabilities.

The pair have now been banned from acting as directors for seven years each over their parts in the plot linked to other Scots business figures.

The Insolvency Service says Mortimer and Seawright both “facilitated” the Atherton corporate rescue scheme by becoming directors of a combined 138 struggling companies.

It said they failed to independently verify the firms’ finances, failing to look into the location of over £42million in assets and leaving creditors with combined debts of more than £67million.

It said the siblings did not dispute their misconduct and agreed to be disqualified rather than taking the case to court.

Dave Magrath, director of investigation and enforcement services at the Insolvency Service, said: “Karen Mortimer and Joanna Seawright deliberately frustrated insolvency legislation, playing a vital role in the smooth running of the Atherton scheme.