7 Comments

"This interconnected network of companies" is totally bogus. Mr Waterman's "links" are all bogus due to his inaability to understand what he is reading on Companies House info, including even that of his own company!

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I agree that was a sloppy statement at the start but the rest is worthy of your consideration: The International Standards on Auditing assume that an individual only has one identity in Companies House and have all their interests associated to it. These are checked for related party transactions. However, if the individual established multiple identities, by varying their name, date of birth and residential address, then they can hold interests that do conflict in another identity that is missed by the audit. The auditor only knows about the interests held in the identity they are auditing and never check for multiple identities for the same individual. Hence, the Audit Report is signed off because everything appears "above board", however, it is compromised when any of the directors have other interests that were not declared to the auditor."

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Rotten to the core, springs to mind.

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You asked about how to approach doing a due diligence check on an individual. Companies House is free and it's easy to access. There is no need to log in. On the search page there are 3 "views" to select from; officers, companies and all. Select officer. If the name is rare, then they will likely appear at the top of the search. If there are a range of dates of birth, or the name is more frequently occurring, then; if they have a Wikipedia entry there is likely to be their date of birth there and middle name(s), or, their LinkedIn profile may mention a company directorship that you can use to locate them, or, they may have a website, or appear when you search the internet on their name. Visually scan all the names and dates of birth of all the entries returned in the search. to locate potential identities. When you go into an entities details, use the "back" arrow to return to this search result page, to look for other identities. It is very rare for two people with the same names and date of birth, to both register a company in Companies House. So, if you find duplicate names with the same date of birth on balance of probability they are "claimed" identities of the same person. You can use the same process on their co-directors, to see if they are concealing interests by holding multiple identities. If the individual is already elected then they will have a Register of Interests. Check this against what you locate in Companies House. If there are interests that they have failed to declare, then write a letter of complaint, copying the data and links to the elected body, Local Authority, City Council, Parliament etc. It's a breach of the Code of Conduct to fail to declare interests. If they have multiple identities then this breaches section 1082 of the Companies Act. If you have time, check that the accounts list the directors correctly and that they are signed by a real person with their name. Either of these is a breach if not completed accurately. Let me know how it goes.

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Mar 12Liked by Alison Wright

Thank you appreciate the detailed response,when time permits will try an allocate some time to this.

At present two sets of elderly parents and general life complications are making a big dent in spare time availability.

I still wonder wether looking into the local council officials /police & crime commissioner etc may be a good move and would make a potentially interesting post and may incourage others to do so as it becomes relevant to the individual local area.

It could also make some interesting questions to the local council.

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I did a due diligence check on the people standing as Councillors, it was very enlightening. I have a report that I nearly but not quite finished on Police and Crime Commissioners. Perhaps I should just post it as I can't see when I'll get back to it. I have a pipeline of unfinished reports!

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I'm sure it would be of interest, even in an unfinished state.

There is certainly a great deal of light being shown on the dark corridor's of power at present.

This current year is going to be most interesting to watch.

I just sent my council a large email , which I would like to post but won't at present informing them of my great displeasure of a 9% increase in CT whilst the services collapse.

They seem to find funding for any pet (carbon neutral etc etc) projects but not a single NHS dentist in the area.

The cracks are only going to grow and the subsidence of the UK is going to get tricky to hide.

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