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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rob Davies

Companies House collects just £1,250 in fines in corruption crackdown

Companies House Liam Byrne Justin Madders
Liam Byrne, photographed at a desk in his constituency office in Birmingham; he is in his mid-50s and has a reddish-grey beard and is mostly bald. He wears a dark jumper and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There is a whiteboards with Post-It notes and documents pinned to the wall plus Labour posters, and he is resting his tea mug on a red folder with Vote Labour on the front of it.
‘It’s time for Companies House to get tougher,’ said Liam Byrne, the chair of the business select committee, who raised a parliamentary question on the issue. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

The UK government agency responsible for overseeing a national register of companies has collected just £1,250 in fines after being given new powers to crack down on corruption, it has emerged.

Companies House is implementing a series of reforms, amid embarrassing revelations about fraudsters and jokers signing up to the corporate register with names such as “Darth Vader” and “Santa Claus”.

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