A payroll and HR services director from Ilford has been banned after millions of pounds worth of unexplained payments went to and from company bank accounts.

Donna Lindsey Elaina Nada, 51, was disqualified from running a company for seven years for misconduct involving Village Energy Solutions Ltd.

The Insolvency Service said the company received around £2.3million of income and made at least £1.8million worth of payments in just over a year without any supporting documents for the transactions.

Ms Nada reportedly claimed that some of this money was used to buy expensive watches for investment purposes - but couldn’t explain where the watches were or provide acceptable documentation.

Deputy head of insolvent investigations Lawrence Zussman said: "As director, Donna Nada was responsible for maintaining adequate company accounting records and due to her failure to carry out a statutory requirement has been removed from the corporate area for a substantial amount of time."

Ms Nada was appointed a director of Village Energy Solutions in August 2018, around six months after the company was incorporated.

However, by December 2019, it was being wound up after one of its creditors petitioned the court to shut the company down.

As the appointed liquidator, the official receiver began an investigation into Ms Nada’s conduct and the reasons why Village Energy Solutions failed.

It found the company was originally incorporated as providing real estate and management consultant services.

In its first nine months, it had three different names – Rasdale Solutions Ltd, Caffe Concerto Payroll Services Ltd and Concerto Payroll Services Ltd – before settling on Village Energy Solutions.

In interviews, Ms Nada allegedly told the official receiver that the company traded from premises in north west London and provided payroll and HR services.

But she had failed to ensure Village Energy Solutions maintained or preserved adequate accounting records or to provide any form of records to the liquidator.

Last month, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy “accepted an undertaking” from Ms Nada for seven years.

The disqualification, which began on February 5, means she is banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved - without the permission of the court - in the promoting, forming or managing a company.