Karen Elizabeth Mcilroy v Deon Minaar & Ors

Facts

The fourth respondent, Liberas Solutions Limited, was an IT consultancy services company incorporated on 12 November 2014 by the first respondent, Deon Minaar, and Michael McIlroy, both IT consultants who had met while working on Vodafone projects at HCL Technologies Ltd. Because Mr McIlroy remained employed by HCL and could not be a director of another company, his wife, the petitioner, took 50% of the shares and a directorship as his nominee. The business monetised the two men's networks by placing consultants with end-clients and charging a margin. Relations broke down in October 2023, when Mr McIlroy, then heavily indebted to his own personal service company and to HMRC, opened negotiations for the sale of the petitioner's shares, then began investigating the Company's bank statements and expenditure. The first respondent refused him unfettered access to the Company's online banking, deleted a bank authorisation link, and moved the consultants' contracts to 7 Principles GmbH. On 20 December 2024 the petitioner presented a petition under section 994 of the Companies Act 2006 in the Business and Property Courts in Bristol, alleging twelve heads of unfairly prejudicial conduct against the first to third respondents, including unauthorised payments to the first respondent's personal service companies, payments to Couture PR for services not provided, exclusion from financial information and destruction of the Company's business. The trial took place in March 2026, with written closing submissions completed on 22 May 2026.