A former Chinese takeaway owner lied about the number of orders he was taking to avoid paying huge amounts of tax.

Yue Chang Dai, who ran the Good View takeaway in Dartford, which has since been taken over and continues trading under new owners, was found to owe the public purse £265,000.

Investigators from the government's Insolvency Service were called in after financial irregularities were spotted when Mr Dai put the business into voluntary liquidation in October 2019.

They discovered Mr Dai, who had fallen into debt and could not repay creditors, had been hiding orders and sales since his very first tax returns after opening the business in April 2016. It is not known exactly how many sales were not disclosed.

Mr Dai, 56, has now been banned from running or managing a company for seven years which comes into effect on January 11.

He was the sole director of the business - registered as Good View Da Ltd - but it will be struck from the register at Companies House. It has since been bought by new owners and has a 4.8 rating on the JustEat ordering platform.

The Insolvency Service, a government agency attached to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, found Mr Dai owed tax authorities a total of £364,000 at the time of liquidation of his business.

This included interest and additional penalties on top of the £265,000 already owed to the taxman.

But the Insolvency Service said they did not know how the owed money had been spent and does "not have the powers to recover unpaid funds in these circumstances".

Investigators found Mr Dai, who is from Dartford, had deliberately concealed the true number of takeaway orders so that he could avoid paying tax and show the accurate revenue of the business.

He accepted he had failed to submit accurate tax returns for the business and handed in a disqualification undertaking to the business secretary.

The document avoids court action being taken against an individual or group of directors but places them under a series of restrictions unless permission to overturn them is granted by a court.

Mr Dai's ban - which does not prevent him from being employed - means he must not "directly or indirectly become involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company", an Insolvency Service spokesman said.

'From the very start of trading, Yue Chang Dai deliberately supressed takings...'

Breaching the ban is a criminal offence and can see offenders sent to prison.

Anyone who assists someone under the restrictions of a ban can be convicted.

Lawrence Zussman, deputy director of insolvent investigations for the Insolvency Service, said: "From the very start of trading, Yue Chang Dai deliberately supressed takings with the sole intention of avoiding paying the correct amount of taxes.

"He thought he could walk away from his responsibilities without repercussions but instead Yue Chang Dai’s actions means he has been disqualified from the catering industry and the wider business environment for a significant period."

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