Nine-year boardroom ban follows asset transfers during NHS contract losses

The full picture

Garry Pettigrew is a former company director who was banned from participating in any company leadership for nine years following an investigation into the transfer of nearly £3 million worth of assets to connected businesses. The ban is tied to the failure of a waste operator that owed over £15 million to creditors.

The Court of Session has imposed a nine-year directorship ban on Garry Pettigrew after an Insolvency Service investigation examined the movement of company assets valued at nearly £3 million.[1] Without court approval, the restriction bars him from taking part in establishing, promoting or running a company until 2035.[1] The events scrutinised by investigators began before a major deterioration in the waste operator’s NHS business.[1] Pettigrew started removing equipment only days ahead of the termination of 17 contracts with NHS England during October 2018.[1] That activity did not end with the October contract losses.[1] Transfers continued through December 2018, a month in which additional NHS agreements were also ended.[1] The assets went to companies connected with Pettigrew, according to the government account.[1] By April 2019, Healthcare Environmental Services Limited was in liquidation and owed over £15 million.[1] The government account says creditors could not access the assets worth nearly £3 million that had been moved to the connected businesses.[1] The case therefore brings together three confirmed developments: the removal of valuable equipment, the loss of NHS business and the company’s later financial collapse.[1] The evidence establishes their sequence, with transfers beginning before the October 2018 terminations, continuing in December and preceding liquidation the following April.[1] The ruling on Thursday 20 August converted the investigation’s findings into a long-term restriction on Pettigrew’s business activity.[1] He cannot participate in company promotion, creation or management without first obtaining permission from a court, and the ban is scheduled to remain operative through 2035.[1] Important questions remain unanswered by the available evidence. It does not say whether creditors subsequently recovered any money, nor does it establish the eventual destination or use of the transferred equipment. It also provides no account of how services affected by the terminated NHS arrangements were later delivered.

Why now?

The Court of Session’s ruling on Thursday 20 August followed the Insolvency Service investigation into the asset transfers.[1]