Insider Media Limited

A director of Birmingham-based real estate company Maple Grow has been disqualified from being a company director for 15 years following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The agency said Mahmood Anwar Yaqub has been disqualified from being a company director or in any way managing or controlling a limited company by Birmingham County Court for 15 years.

The investigation by the Insolvency Service found that Yaqub, 48, and other directors of the company obtained mortgage advances of almost £1.8m on six properties which they knew were worth less than £1m.

They had previously purchased the properties for about £960,000 before selling them to their own company, the service said.

Between 19 December 2007 and 29 January 2008, three of the five company directors obtained mortgage valuations in the total sum of £2.6m in respect of six properties. The other two directors in this matter were Muhammed Usman Mughal and Mohsin Afsar, the Insolvency Service confirmed.

Maple Grow went into administration on 26 March 2009 with liabilities of about £3.5m.

Yaqub's disqualification came into effect on 14 December. Four other directors of Maple Grow have already offered disqualification undertakings totalling 32 years to the Secretary of State, said the Insolvency Sevice.

Claire Entwistle, director of company investigations north, said: "The order given by Birmingham County Court in respect of Mahmood Anwar Yaqub sends a clear message to other company directors; if you run a business in a way that is detrimental to either its customers or its creditors you will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment."

Maple Grow was incorporated on 13 October 2006 and was based in Birmingham.