A bankruptcy petition against BBC rugby pundit Ugo Monye has been retracted after HM Revenue and Customs failed to locate his address to serve the documents. Earlier this year, it was disclosed that the ex-England and British & Irish Lions winger was suffering hardship. He had received a petition from HMRC in December seeking permission to confiscate his assets to settle his debts.
The BBC and TNT Sports analyst’s ‘physical wellbeing’ firm, Show Me The Monye Ltd, which he established in 2012, was issued a winding-up order at the close of 2023, procured by HMRC through the courts.
This was allegedly due to an unsettled bill of nearly £200,000 in tax and National Insurance contributions. The company’s accounts for the year ending June 30, 2022, revealed it owed £108,562 in corporation tax and £72,967 in other tax and National Insurance.
However, according to the Telegraph, during a High Court hearing on Tuesday, HMRC’s legal representative requested permission to withdraw its petition against Monye, who had been unable to serve papers on the 41-year-old former Harlequins star. Despite the pundit’s frequent appearances on TV and radio, they were unable to track him down.
Judge Sally Barber gave the green light for a startling legal manoeuvre, noting: “You’ve been unable to serve it because you don’t have knowledge of a place of residence where he currently lives. Permission to withdraw the bankruptcy petition granted.”
Official word from HMRC on this movement is still pending; however, an insider intimated to the Telegraph that the petition might have been dispatched to an obsolete address.
In his own words, Monye said: “I have been fully engaged with my financial advisers who in turn have been liaising directly with HMRC on this matter on my behalf. I am hopeful that the matter will be fully concluded imminently.”
This article first appeared on WalesOnline.