Prison sentence for Bankrupt

Friday 15th July, 2011 

On the 17 June 2011 a bankrupt property developer received 18 months in prison for concealing the the proceeds of a house sale form the Official Receiver.

Giles Gilbey, a 47 year old East Midlands property developer and house builder, plead guilty in Northampton Crown Court to three charges of hiding money from the Official Receiver. The sum of money involved was £143,000 - Mr Gilbley's share of the proceeds of the sale of the family home. He then failed to give a reasonable explanation to the Official Receiver as to what had happened to it which is a legal requirement.

The resulting prosecution, brought by the The Department of Business Innovation and Skills, saw Mr Gilbley not contesting the charges of failing to provide satisfactory explanations as to what happened to the £143k and for removing property from his estate.

Stephen Speed, CEO of The Insolvency Service said, "People genuinely struggling with debt who want to benefit from the debt relief arrangements offered by the insolvency regime must be prepared to declare all of their assets or face the penalty imposed on them. It is for the Official Receiver to decide which assets should be sold for the benefit of the creditors and which may be retained by the debtor."

With good behaviour Mr Gibley will probably only serve 9 months. But has he really paid for his crime? Ian West, the Deputy Chief Investigation Officer with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills thinks he has, %u201CMr Gilbey's prison sentence sends a clear message to bankrupts who attempt to put their financial assets beyond the reach of their creditors.%u201D

However, Mr Gibley has made a choice of 9 months in prison rather than giving up the money. After 9 long months in prison he'll still have the £143,000 what message does that send out?