Insecure director disqualified

26 September 2012

A Staffordshire director was (on 25 Sept 2012) sentenced to 18 months community service and disqualified as a director for three years after pleading guilty to a string of security offences.

Deraz Majid, 30, was working as director of Staffordshire Security Services Ltd and as a security guard without an SIA licence, as well as deploying unlicensed guards. In an attempt to cover the offending he made false statements about the business to the Security Industry Authority.

SIA investigators first made enquiries into SSS Ltd when they discovered that the listed sole director, Deraz Majid's brother, did not hold the necessary SIA licence.

Deraz Majid attended an interview with SIA investigators and Police Community Support Officers from Staffordshire Police, during which he pretended to be his brother.

However, during a joint police and SIA inspection of the company’s main office in Hanley, Majid’s real identity became apparent and he was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Security related paperwork was seized by police officers.

Majid, who controlled the business as a shadow director, had registered his brother as a director without his knowledge. During further investigation by the SIA, it was discovered that Deraz Majid was operating illegally by working in the role of director and as a security guard without an SIA licence, and had also deployed unlicensed security guards, including to a construction site in Hanley.

During a previous hearing at Stafford Magistrates Court on 19 September, Majid pleaded guilty to working as an unlicensed director of a security company, working as an unlicensed guard, six charges of deploying unlicensed guards (three of these against Stafford Security Services Ltd as a business), and two charges of making false statements to the SIA.

Majid was sentenced to an 18 month community service order and to undertake 200 hours unpaid work. The court placed him under a three-year Director Disqualification Order - the first time such an order has been applied as a result of an SIA prosecution. He was ordered to pay £1,200 towards prosecution costs. Stafford Security Services Ltd was fined £1500 and ordered to pay £10,000 in prosecution costs.

The Magistrate bench described the offending as “foolish, which was seriously compounded by the false information provided.”

SIA Head of Investigation Nathan Salmon added: “Mr Majid won security contracts by undercutting the costs of other providers. However, his mismanagement of the business led to offences being committed. He then sought to mislead the SIA, providing false information to conceal the true position of the company. This sentence means that not only can Mr Majid no longer operate within the security industry, but he will for a period be unable to be a director of any business. Stafford Security Services Ltd has ceased to trade following this investigation and pays a significant financial penalty.”