Former CEO of collapsed Carillion disqualified for 8 years

Carillion logo displayed on a smartphone (Image: piter2121 via AdobeStock - stock.adobe.com)

The former chief executive officer of UK construction contractor Carillion, which collapsed under £1.3 billion of debt in 2018, has been disqualified as a director.

Richard Howson has been banned from acting as a director for a period of eight years by the Insolvency Service.

His disqualification follows that of two former finance directors Zafar Khan and Richard Adam earlier this year.

Among the reasons listed by the Insolvency Service for Howson’s disqualification was that he caused the company to report its consolidated financial statements for the years ending 31 December 2015 and 2016 as regards revenues, costs, and the performance of major contracts “in a way which he ought to have known falsified and concealed the reality of the deterioration of the major contracts which in reality became loss-making, and Carillion’s consequent grave and deteriorating financial position”.

In a statement, the Insolvency Service said, “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.”