A HUSBAND and wife business duo who recorded false sales totalling more than £1bn a year to obtain finance have been banned from acting as company directors.

Rotarian John Billany and his wife, Carmel, lied about the annual turnover of Lindon Group Limited in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in 2012 and 2013.

Records for the now insolvent hydraulic hose company indicated a turnover in excess of £1bn for 2012 and a turnover of more than £100m per month from January to May 2013.

Linden’s real turnover was in the region of £3m per year.

In September 2013, financial difficulties led to insolvency and the company was hours from closure when national hose supplier Hydraquip stepped in and bought the firm.

It continues to trade under the name Hydraquip Linden but is not connected to the Billanys.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Mr and Mrs Billany, both 68, were disqualified as company directors for nine years and three years and six months respectively.

Mr Billany, president of Newton Aycliffe Rotary Club from 1992 to 1993, did not dispute he caused Linden Group to raise false sales invoices, while Mrs Billany did not dispute she neglected her duties as director and allowed this to happen.

Mark Bruce, a chief investigator with the Insolvency Service, said: “These disqualifications should demonstrate to company directors that the Insolvency Service will investigate all forms of misconduct, no matter how complicated the evidence or how long the paper trail is.

“We will always look to remove from the business community those directors who act below the standards that should be expected of them."

It is believed Mr and Mrs Billany moved from Redworth, near Shildon, to La Serpent in France in December 2013.

According to the property website Rightmove.co.uk, their former home, a detached four-bedroom house in High Road, Redworth, sold for £300,000 in last February.