Former Carillion director banned for 12.5 years

A former finance chief of Carillion has been banned from holding any company directorships for more than 12 years. 

Mr Richard Adam, who served as the Group finance director between 2007 and 2016, has been disqualified as a director for 12 and a half years. 

Mr Adam voluntarily agreed to his disqualification, The Insolvency Service reported on Friday (14 July). 

It follows the disqualification of Mr Adam’s fellow Carillion finance director, Mr Zafar Iqbal Khan, on 29 June.  

Mr Khan, who also voluntarily agreed to his disqualification, told Construction Wave he believed he acted “at all times in the best interests of the company”. 

Mr Adam was said to have caused Carillion to rely on “false and misleading financial information”, effectively leading to a misstatement of the company’s 2016 financial performance and its contracts on several projects, it is understood. 

The Financial Conduct Authority fined Mr Adam £318,000 last year.   

The financial watchdog also fined Carillion’s former CEO, Richard Howson, £397,800, and Mr Adam’s fellow finance director, Mr Khan, £154,400.   

Carillion collapsed owing close to £7 billion and held around 450 construction and service contracts across government, reported Sky News.  

It is understood Carillion employed around 43,000 people at the time it went under, including 18,000 in the United Kingdom.   

The Insolvency Service is still pursuing cases against other former Carillion directors.  

A trial is set to commence the week of 16 October 2023. 

“The Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, has accepted a disqualification undertaking from Richard Adam for 12 and a half years for his conduct as a director of Carillion Plc,” an Insolvency Service spokesperson said. 

“This follows the disqualification undertaking the Insolvency Service accepted from Zafar Khan on 29 June 2023. 

“As the litigation against the remaining directors is ongoing, with a trial set to commence the week of 16 October 2023, we are unable to comment any further.” 

Mr Adam was approached for comment. 

Image credit: Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. 

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