Former Carillion finance chief handed 11-year boardroom ban

Carillion’s former finance chief has been handed an 11-year boardroom ban for his role in one of the UK’s biggest corporate failings.

Zafar Khan, who served as the outsourcing giant’s finance director for less than a year before it imploded, has been blocked from holding company directorships for more than a decade.

The construction group, which was involved in building hospitals and roads, collapsed in early 2018 owing close to £7billion.

At the time, it was working on about 450 public sector projects, leaving thousands of people without a job and putting major delays on planned developments.

An Insolvency Service spokesman said yesterday it had accepted ‘a disqualification undertaking’ from Khan for 11 years ‘for his conduct as a director of Carillion’.

The Insolvency Service refused to comment further because ‘litigation against the remaining directors is ongoing, with a trial set to commence the week of October 16’.

Last year, Khan, chief executive Richard Howson and Richard Adam, who also served as Carillion’s finance chief, were fined a total of close to £1million for issuing misleading statements to investors about its finances.

Ben Drew, partner at law firm Fladgate, said Khan’s ban was an example of the Insolvency Service ‘flexing its muscles’.

Khan said: ‘I have decided, in the interests of my family and finally to draw a line under this process, that I will provide an undertaking not to act a director.

‘When I took on the role I was aware that the group faced significant commercial challenges and I devoted all my energies to overcoming these challenges.

‘I regret that I was not able to make a big enough difference in the short time I was in post.’