At the Crown Court in Belfast yesterday a recently re-elected local councillor and former mayor and his wife were disqualified from holding company directorships after they admitted trading while their security firm was insolvent.
Mr William Abraham (54), an Independent Unionist, who was recently re-elected to Castlereagh Borough Council, was disqualified for 10 years. His wife, Mrs Amy Edith Abraham, was barred for six years.
In the High Court, Master Basil Glass said the undisputed evidence rendered each of them unfit to be concerned in the management of a company.
Officials of the Department of Economic Development said in sworn affidavits that over a period of eight years £387,000 in crown funds had been retained. The sum included value-added tax and national insurance contributions.
Mr Abraham, a former policeman, went into the security business after being seriously injured in a terrorist attack in west Belfast in the 1970s. In 1989 he was given a suspended 12-month prison sentence and fined £10,000 on VAT fraud charges.
Yesterday Master Glass said this provided evidence of dishonesty and was conduct which should be taken into account. He ordered the Abrahams to pay the costs of the case.