A KEIGHLEY motor company has been wound up by the High Court for its role in an IT finance scam.

Fine Car Hire Ltd, of North Street, was one of five businesses involved in the plot to obtain finance under the ruse of buying the equipment.

Now it has been “wound up in the public interest” at the High Court in Manchester.

The company was part of a scam to inappropriately obtain, or attempt to obtain, finance under the guise of leasing IT equipment.

Fine Car Hire secured agreements totalling just over £134,000 to pay for the leasing of IT equipment supposedly to be sourced from Premier Snax.

When two other firms made attempts to obtain finance using similar tactics, the finance company became concerned.

The court wound up the companies on the grounds that all five had been abandoned, showed a lack of stewardship and transparency and had failed to co-operate and maintain or deliver up adequate accounting records.

David Hope, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “All five companies have been used as part of an orchestrated and cynical attack on finance companies to extract funds in a wholly inappropriate manner, all while using similar activities to connected companies we had previously taken action against.

“By closing these companies down, the court has protected other lenders from their actions and this demonstrates we will act robustly to protect legitimate businesses and prevent such abuse from taking place.”