Lifting the corporate veil

[Brigadier]

Humans error, equipment fails, buildings catch fire, competitors move in, unforeseen events occur, suppliers let you down, your business forecasts are wrong, customers can’t pay etc etc. There are 100s of reasons why honest people fail.

To which your response is "Shoite happens". OK.

So why the objection to dishonest people who "fail" (the company and their customers, while personally profiting) from similarly ending up potless?

 

[morqthana]

Humans error, equipment fails, buildings catch fire, competitors move in, unforeseen events occur, suppliers let you down, your business forecasts are wrong, customers can’t pay etc etc. There are 100s of reasons why honest people fail.

But this isn't about "honest people failing".

The Department of Health and Social Care sued PPE Medpro over claims the medical gowns it supplied did not comply with relevant healthcare standards.

The High Court ruled Medpro failed to prove whether or not its surgical gowns, which were to be used by NHS workers, had undergone a validated sterilisation process.

 

[noseall]

Humans error, equipment fails, buildings catch fire, competitors move in, unforeseen events occur, suppliers let you down, your business forecasts are wrong, customers can’t pay etc etc. There are 100s of reasons why honest people fail.

...theft, dishonesty, greed. Paying shareholders big dividends when the company is bankrupt...

 

[blup]

Happens every day. 100s of builders, manufacturers, installers etc. phoenix their firms when they can’t finish a fixed priced job within the costs they thought. They normally create NewCo before liquidating OldCo to avoid being barred.

Why do banks take personal guarantees if limited liability is crucial to business confidence?

 

[morqthana]

Why do banks take personal guarantees if limited liability is crucial to business confidence?

Because they have the money. And they don't want to lose it to limited liability.

 

[blup]

Perhaps the answer in the Medipro situation is to make liability personal if ultimate true ownership of a company is hidden.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

The people making the decisions at UK government should have assessed the company's situation and credit-worthiness. They could also have stipulated staged payments, personal guarantees, escrow payments or anything they liked.

But instead they just lobbed all our money at some outfit that had been set up by a politician's pal.

The attention should focus on the decision-makers in government, and their possible links with this company. This concept of directors becoming liable is just a smokescreen to deflect attention away from the real blame.