Lex Greensill seeks to throw out director ban
The government’s bid to disqualify the boss of collapsed lender Greensill Group from directing companies in the UK for 12 years should be thrown out as there “cannot be a fair trial”, the High Court has been told.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) began proceedings against Lex Greensill in 2024 after the Insolvency Service investigated various companies within the group that became insolvent in 2021, claiming he had committed misconduct.
But Ian Winter KC, for Mr Greensill, said in written submissions that the claim should be thrown out as there “cannot be a fair trial”, stating that the case against the financier was “unfair and an abuse of process”.
The barrister said that the DBT was obliged under the law to “ensure that the connectivity between the misconduct of the defendant and the insolvency of the company can be established”.
But he continued that the DBT’s position was “inconsistent and unsustainable” as while the Government was not claiming that the alleged misconduct caused the insolvencies, it “does make allegations about the defendant’s conduct in that regard”.
The barrister said: “That raises the prospect that the defendant could be found to be unfit because of conclusions reached by the court about his responsibility for the causes of the insolvencies without any allegation having been made in that regard, or particularised, or evidenced in a way that can be challenged by the defendant.
“That is profoundly unfair.”
In written submissions, David Mohyuddin, for the DBT, said that the information received by the department from the Insolvency Service meant that it was “expedient in the public interest” that Mr Greensill be disqualified.