News International misses deadline to file its accounts

The request was successful.

Dear Companies House,

the corporation NI Group (00081701) has failed to file accounts (Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE).

Other related companies in the same group have also failed to file accounts. For example, the following businesses are presently indicated overdue filing accounts;

NEWS INTERNATIONAL (ADVERTISEMENTS) LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISEMENTS (IRELAND) LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATED SERVICES LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS (KNOWSLEY) LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE
NEWS INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED
Next Accounts Due: 31/03/2012 OVERDUE

It would appear that - despite the already intense public scrutiny that the company are presently experiencing from Police, MPs, regulators, and the press - they have chosen not to file accounts.

I understand from the advice given in GP2 that "There is a deadline for delivering acceptable accounts which comply with all relevant legal requirements to Companies House. If you miss the deadline we will issue an automatic penalty, without exception. In addition, we may prosecute directors of a company for delivering their accounts late or not at all". (*)

My recollection of my time working at Companies House is that deadlines for filing are strictly enforced, and exceptions (even on compassionate grounds) are very unusual.

Roy Greenslade's blog states that "News International has failed to meet the Companies House deadline to file its accounts and has asked for a month's extension"(**).

Please could you confirm or deny that NI Group/News International have applied for, and been granted, an extension to the deadline for filing accounts this year.

Please could you disclose to me all correspondence (fax, email, letter) between Companies House and the Directors of NI Group/News International concerning the late filling of accounts (presumably in the range 1/1/2012-date).

Please include in your disclosures;
1) the request from NI Group/News International directors for an extension to the filing deadline,
2) the response to that request from Companies House,
3) details of penalties imposed on each one of the Companies in the NI Group/News International for failing to file accounts
4) details of any criminal prosecutions resulting fom the failure of Directors to file accounts on time

Yours faithfully,

P John

(*) http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/g...
(**) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greensla...

Ceri Harnett, Companies House

I'm sorry but I am not in the office until 10 April 2012

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Many thanks
Ceri Harnett
Information Rights Team

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P. John left an annotation ()

"Accounts for News Group’s parent company NI Group are overdue. The company has informed Companies House the results will be produced within a month. "

Teelgraph; News Group phone hacking scandal costs approach £240m
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsb...

Glenys Harris, Companies House

Dear Mr John
 
Freedom of Information Request - FOI 76/04/12
 

I refer to your request for information in your e-mail of 8 April 2012.

 

The Information Rights Team are dealing with your request and a response
will be sent as soon as possible.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mrs G Harris

Information Rights Team

 

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Glenys Harris, Companies House

Dear Mr John

 

Freedom of Information Request - FOI 76/04/12

 

I refer to your e-mail of 8 April 2012 in which you asked for
correspondence between Companies House and the Directors of NI Group/News
International concerning the late filing of accounts to be disclosed to
you.

 

As you have been advised in previous correspondence, we are bound under
section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by a Code of Practice to
inform any third parties involved that we have received a request under
this legislation to divulge information that they have provided. 
Therefore, I am obliged to contact the third party to inform them that a
request has been received and that we are considering disclosing
information between themselves and Companies House.  This gives them the
opportunity to object to such disclosure and provide reasons as to why
they consider the information should be exempt.  I should also point out
that the ultimate decision on disclosure lies with Companies House and not
the third party. More information on this legislation is available at
[1]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please would you confirm whether you want me to contact the third party
concerned with this matter to seek their permission for disclosure.  If
you do want me to proceed in this way, please would you confirm this as
soon as possible?  Sometimes the third party will ask for the identity of
the enquirer, so please also confirm whether you are content to disclose
your identity to the third party if asked.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Mrs G Harris

Information Rights Team

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Dear Ms Harris,

you ask whether I would be prepared to allow details of my request, and identity, to be disclosed to NI Group.

I am quite content that you should do so, though in the circumstances, very grateful that you would trouble to ask.

In passing I gather that the penalities for late filing - and the accounts for NI Group remain overdue as I write this - are specified under the Companies Act 2006 s451 (*) and include a fine on conviction, and a daily default fine thereafter.

I would be grateful if CH response would indicate which of those measures are being imposed on the NI Group Directors and Companies concerned.

Given the money, expertise, and facilities at the disposal of NI Group Directors... there is no reasonable excuse I can envisage for these accounts to be so delayed.

Yours sincerely,

P. John

(*) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006...

Dear Ms Harris,

I note today that NI Group accounts, already overdue by a month, have not been published (despite the one month extension reportedly granted by CH to the Directors).

In parallel, the executives of the company have today been accused of lying to MPs (in addition to the wider allegations of bribery, corruption, and illegal interception of private communications). (*)

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee stated; "Corporately, the News of the World and News International misled the Committee about the true nature and extent of the internal investigations they professed to have carried out in relation to phone hacking; by making statements they would have known were not fully truthful; and by failing to disclose documents which would have helped expose the truth."

Given the claimed dishonesty by NI Group directors, it is in the public interest that their corporate accounts are delivered immediately, and a full account is provided for any leniency afforded/enforcement measures taken by Companies House.

I look forward to receiving your full response to my FoI request.

Yours sincerely,

P. John

* http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...

Glenys Harris, Companies House

Dear Mr John

 

Freedom of Information Request - FOI 786/04/12

 

With reference to your emails of 8^th and 17^th of April 2012 where you
have requested information relating to NI Group and other companies in the
group. I also confirm receipt of your e-mail of 1 May 2012, a copy of
which has been passed to our Compliance Department.

 

I have answered your questions in the order that they have been provided
in your requests.

 

Could you confirm or deny that NI Group/News International have applied
for and been granted an extension of the deadline for filing accounts this
year.

 

I can confirm that NI Group Limited applied for an extension to the filing
deadline for the 30 June 2011 accounts. The extension request was not
granted.

 

Could you disclose all correspondence between Companies House and the
directors of NI Group/News International concerning the late filing of
accounts, to include:

 

 1. the request from NI Group/News International directors for an
extension to the filing deadline

 

 2. the response to that request from Companies House

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, applicants are not entitled to
copies of documents, only the ‘information’ contained in them.  Therefore
I am providing you with the following summary relating to the extension
request:

 

NI Group Limited are in the process of carrying out a reorganisation
involving certain companies within the group and applied for an extension
of time to file accounts when the reorganisation has been completed.
Companies House considered the application but the reasons provided were
not sufficient for us to grant an extension.

 

 3. details of penalties imposed on each one of the Companies in the NI
Group/News

International for failing to file accounts.  

Any limited company that files its accounts after the filing deadline will
incur an automatic civil late filing penalty. The penalty is levied when
the accounts have been delivered and the size of the penalty depends on
how late the accounts reach Companies House.  None of the  companies
referred to in your e-mails have received a late filing penalty yet
because the overdue accounts have not been filed.

 4. details of any criminal prosecution resulting from the failure of
directors to file accounts on time

 

5.   are we are imposing on the NI Group directors and companies
concerned, a fine on conviction and a daily default fine thereafter

I am advised that the majority of accounts for the subsidiaries of NI
Group Limited have been filed up to date and within the time allowed for
filing. However, the following companies, listed in your e-mail of 8 April
have applied for voluntary strike off

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISEMENTS (IRELAND) LIMITED

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATED SERVICES LIMITED

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS (KNOWSLEY) LIMITED

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS LIMITED

      NEWS INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED

    

Once a voluntary strike-off application (form DS01) has been registered at
Companies House, the Registrar’s policy is to cease pursuit of the
delivery of outstanding accounts as the company has provided confirmation
that it is no longer required.  Therefore there is no requirement for
accounts to be submitted once an application for strike off has been
filed. 

We are now taking action to remove the above companies from the register. 
This approach is consistent with all companies applying for voluntary
dissolution under Section 1003 of the Companies Act 2006.

 

The two remaining companies that you listed, News International
(Advertisements) Limited and News International Distribution Limited, to
date, have not filed acceptable forms DS01 or the overdue accounts.  NI
Group Limited, have not as yet filed the outstanding accounts for the
period ending 30 June 2011.

 

Companies House has an active pursuit process but our main aim is to
achieve compliance.

For any company whose accounts have not been received by the due date, the
Registrar will promptly begin enforcement action and will send a series of
standard letters to the company and its officers to encourage them to
regularise matters. 

 

All companies will receive a ‘Def Stat AC’ letter approximately 2 weeks
after the filing date, unless they file the outstanding accounts in the
meantime.  This is an automated letter, (copies of which are not kept)
 and is the first statutory letter sent by the Registrar to establish if
the company is carrying on in business or in operation.  The letter makes
it clear that the accounts are overdue and asks the company to file the
accounts within 28 days or to contact us if they feel they will be unable
to meet the deadline.  It also makes it clear that failure to contact us
or file the accounts will result in the statutory process of removing the
company from the Register. In addition, it highlights criminal
proceedings, strike off action and late filing penalties.

 

If the company responds to confirm that it is still required or promises
to file the accounts within a reasonably short period, a letter is issued
to confirm that the strike off action will be discontinued.  An agreement
may also be given to delay prosecution action, usually up to a period of
28 days and again highlights criminal proceedings and that late filing
penalties are separate from the possibility of criminal proceedings which
can be taken against a company's directors for failing to file accounts.

 

With regard to issuing criminal proceedings and fines for failing to file
accounts on time, this would not occur at this stage, due to the
procedures we must follow. As mentioned above, our main aim is to achieve
compliance, but if compliance is not achieved, prosecution action will be
considered, however, it could be a matter of months after the filing
deadline before criminal proceedings are instituted. The decision on
fines issued is a matter for the Magistrates Court. If after prosecution
the company continues not to file the accounts and the case is brought
before Magistrates again, the court may consider issuing a daily default
fine.

 

I hope that I have fully answered your enquiry but as your request has
been considered under the Freedom of Information legislation, I am
required to inform you that if you are unhappy with the result of your
request for information you may request an internal review within two
calendar months of the date of this e-mail.  Any requests for such a
review should be addressed, in the first instance to me at the above
address, and I will ensure that it is forwarded to a senior member of
Companies House who has had no previous involvement in this case and they
will undertake the review. 

 

If you are then not content with the outcome of the internal review, you
have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at; Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 Mrs G Harris

Information Rights Team

This message and any attachments are intended for the persons named as
addressees only and may contain confidential information. In addition they
may be protected by copyright.

If you receive it in error, notify us, delete it and do not make use of or
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intended, without our consent.

Please note that this e-mail has been created in the knowledge that
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For company information, guidance and how to file documents online, please
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Dear Mrs Harris,

many thanks for your response to my FoI request.

I look forward to reading the N Group accounts when they are filed.

Though I note as I write this the accounts remain outstanding despite any and all assurances your colleagues might have received from Mr Murdoch and his directors.

I have a somewhat related request, concerning the business News Corp Investments... which I may submit separately.

many thanks again,
Yours sincerely,

P. John

Glenys Harris, Companies House

I am out of the office until Monday 14 May. If you need to contact the Information Rights Team urgently, please call 02920 380373 (ext 2373).

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Dear Mrs Harris,

many thanks for your response to my FoI request.

I look forward to reading the N Group accounts when they are filed.

Though I note as I write this the accounts remain outstanding
despite any and all assurances your colleagues might have received
from Mr Murdoch and his directors.

I have a somewhat related request, concerning the business News
Corp Investments... which I may submit separately.

many thanks again,
Yours sincerely,

P. John

show quoted sections