A CHEATING company director who operated air-conditioning companies while bankrupt and forged documents to escape the law, has been jailed for four years and nine months.
Roy Goss, 67, from Cambridge, was convicted in Croydon Crown Court of 18 charges, including 8 charges of managing companies while an undischarged bankrupt .

Goss became involved with five electrical contractor firms in Swansea between 1998 and 2001: * Teasdale Electrical Ltd * Dragon Group Ltd * Mumbles Electrics Ltd * Trojan Logistics Ltd * Teasdale Electrical Engineering Ltd

Goss engaged the services of accountants but failed to pay them. They petitioned for his bankruptcy and a bankruptcy order was made on December 22, 2000. Normally Goss' bankruptcy would have been suspended after three years but his bankruptcy was suspended because he failed to cooperate with the Official Receiver and trustee.

In 2003, Goss became involved in three companies dealing with air conditioning systems and water purification. Estec Environmental Ltd Excel WTS Ltd E-Tek Holdings Ltd

He made a number of unsuccessful applications to annul his bankruptcy. Six of his companies went into liquidation, leaving unpaid debts of £3m.

Goss sought to avoid the consequences of the bankruptcy and legal proceedings brought against him by pretending his estranged wife, Fay Goss was a director and running the companies and submitting false documents purporting to be signed by her.

Goss also pretended two of the companies were run not by him, but by his cousin, Royston Goss.

Goss also wrote to credit reference agencies enclosing copies of bogus high court orders purporting to have been made by a high court judge annulling the bankruptcy order

As well as the 8 charges of managing firms while bankrupt, Goss' was also convicted of:

three charges of making or using forged documents,

two charges of perjury,

two charges of acting with intent to pervert the course of justice contrary to common law,

three charges of failing to deliver the records of three of the companies to the liquidator following liquidation.

In passing sentence, Judge Kenneth MacRae said Goss was 'intrinsically dishonest' and a 'menace to the commercial and business community'.

He was also disqualified from acting as a director or in the management of a company for 10 years.

Prosecution against Goss was brought by the Department for Business. Business Minister Pat McFadden said: 'We are determined to crack down on cheats like these who profit by deception. When someone acts in this way they are effectively stealing from honest businesses, who are owed money and can suffer as a result. 'This prosecution sends a clear message to would-be fraudsters that they won't get away with it.'