BANS totalling 11 years have been imposed on two company directors from Blackburn after the cleaning firm they ran went bust owing the taxman £65,000.

Investigators have also queried what happened to cash withdrawals totalling nearly £28,000 before Diamond White (North West) Ltd went under.

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Sakeel Ahmed Haji, 39, of The Dene, and Ahmed Yakub Desu, 63, of Charlotte Street, both Blackburn, who were directors of the firm, which was formerly based in Glenfield Park, Philips Road, have each been disqualified from serving as company bosses.

An inquiry by Insolvency Service officials has resulted in a suspension of six years for Desu and five years for Haji, in the wake of Diamond White’s liquidation as a company in September 2012.

While the company bosses were found to have paid out £577,432 between April 2011 and August 2012, including wages, business expenses and some other unknown withdrawals, only £1,000 was allocated for the payment of pay-as-you-earn tax and £72 in VAT.

Desu and Haji were also criticised by insolvency officials for failing to provide adequate accounting records for the liquidator, income and expenditure details or cash withdrawal receipts.

Question marks were also raised over the purpose of personal transactions totalling £8,875 between April 2011 and July 2012.

Diamond White also had to be compulsorily registered for VAT, after ignoring HMRC advice, and they had filed no returns for the period from October 2011 to July 2012.