forged signature on accounts submitted to cro

Hi Guys

A quick question.

A friend became a director of a company to help a mate out. When if came to submitting the annual returns with accounts, my friend only saw and signed the B1, he just signed the B1 and never saw any accounts or signed any accounts to be submitted with the cro return. He purchased the accounts of the CRO website and his signature has been forged on the accounts that were submitted on two pages. He has now resigned from that company but wants to know is he exposed or has he any comeback against the other director.
There was never any agm's.

Cheers.

We are waiting 10 ten years for the ONE director company that would end this situation.

That said why did he sign a B1 which is the Annual Return document to which the Accounts are attached or abridged if it is able to avail of the exemptions?

First thing is the solvency of the company - if it goes into liquidation within 12 months of his resignation and is insolvent he as director may have a reckless or fraudulent trading (civil) matters and could be held liable for debts and or be restricted.

It may be that there are no such exposures and that the friend wanted to get the accounts in to avoid penalties.

There is obviously the matter of the forgery and trust between the two. But there is something odd about B1 and the absence of the rest.

If he feels he wants to be rid of it and is clear on solvency then the resignation is what I would do. Is it registered in CRO now? If the other Directors refuse to act he needs to file B69.

My instincts are this is a misunderstanding.

He was sent the b1 by email to sign which he did and just assumed the accounts would follow in another email and then he forgot about it. When he never received the accounts he bought them off the cro site and that's were he saw his signature forged twice.

He asked to be removed as a director twice but this was ignored and he has since resigned by submitting a b69.

I mentioned it to another accountant friend and he said he should go straight to the guards.

My mate doesn't want to go to the guards but he doesn't want to be let liable either as he had nothing to do with the company. I have told him to make the accountant who signed of the accounts aware of the situation and to ask him for a copy of the filed accounts and also a breakdown of the nominal ledger so he can see is their anything he should worry about.