Ugo Monye‘s bankruptcy petition over a £200,000 unpaid tax bill has reportedly been withdrawn – after HMRC was unable to find his address to serve it to him.
The baffling series of events came to light during a High Court hearing on Tuesday into the BBC star’s financial struggles.
Presenter Monye, a former England and British & Irish Lions wing, was left facing financial ruin after his company, Show Me The Monye, was liquidated.
Set up in 2012, documents on Companies House reveal HMRC obtained a winding-up order in December 2023 for the ‘physical well-being’ firm over unpaid tax bills.
News first emerged about the petition against the former athlete in January.
However, at yesterday’s hearing in front of the High Court’s deputy bankruptcy registrar, Judge Sally Barber, lawyers representing HMRC were forced to ask for permission to withdraw its petition as they could not find the 41-year-old’s address.
‘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,’ the judge said, reported the Telegraph.
HMRC has not revealed why it was unable to find Monye who regularly appears on TV and radio as a pundit for the BBC and TNT – and most recently featured in Six Nations coverage. It also has not said if it is planning a fresh petition.
Ugo Monye’s bankruptcy petition over a £200,000 unpaid tax bill has reportedly been withdrawn – after HMRC was unable to find his address to serve it to him
TNT Sports presenters Sarra Elgan and Ugo Monye present, whilst stood next to the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby trophy on May 12 2024
Ugo Monye pictured right on Question of Sport. The show has since been axed by the BBC
However, according to Telegraph, sources at the tax office have claimed HMRC had served a petition to the sports star to an out-of-date address.
A spokesman for HMRC told MailOnline: ‘We do everything we can to help those who engage with us to get out of debt, and only petition for bankruptcy as a last resort. In certain circumstances the process may be delayed to allow the legal requirements of the courts to be complied with.’
In a statement, Mr Monye added: ‘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.’
As previously reported, HMRC served a winding-up order in December 2023 over the reported non-payment of nearly £200,000 in tax and National Insurance payments.
On December 4, 2024, HMRC lodged a bankruptcy petition against the former rugby international.
The company’s accounts for the year ended June 30, 2022, showed it owed £108,562 in corporation tax and £72,967 in other tax and National Insurance.
It comes after A Question of Sport, the world’s longest-running television sports quiz, was dropped by the BBC two years into a revamp featuring Monye and Sam Quek as the captains and Paddy McGuinness as the host.
Monye is the latest former England star to face bankruptcy after World Cup winners Lawrence Dallaglio and Phil Vickery.
The Princess of Wales with Ugo Monye as she take part in rugby drills during her visit to meet local and national male rugby players at Maidenhead Rugby Club in 2023
Monye retired from playing at 31 in 2015 after spending his 13-year career with Harlequins.
He helped them to their first Premiership title in 2012, while he also won 14 caps for England and two for the Lions, finishing top try-scorer on the latter’s 2009 tour to South Africa.
Before retiring, he joined BT Sport as a rugby analyst and he took part in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, a week after it emerged he split from his wife of five years.
In an interview he told how the break up has been a ‘tough period for us both’ and that there was no ‘third party’ involved, quipping: ‘Forget the Strictly curse – it’s the Covid curse!’
He told The Sun: ‘It’s been hard, at times things have seemed a bit overwhelming but it’s been a tough period for us both. In some relationships there is a moment, a ‘thing’, that breaks the couple.
‘It can be an exterior influence. It can be anything. But with us it was a number of things. We weren’t in a volatile relationship, we never hated each other and there was no third party. Forget the Strictly curse – it’s the Covid curse! We ended up where we ended up.
‘It’s been a difficult, multi-faceted situation but there is no animosity. We’ve got two incredible young girls who we love so much, so our focus is very much on the kids, protecting and fostering this amazing family unit.’
The presenter is now facing bankruptcy over an unpaid £200,000 tax bill after his company was liquidated
Monye retired from playing at 31 in 2015 after spending his 13-year career with Harlequins
Meanwhile, former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio has not responded to demands for cash to pay a £354,000 tax bill, new documents claim.
The World Cup winner is being pursued liquidators who are trying to recover money he had loaned himself from his company.
A report said that accountants trawled through the records of his company Lawrence Dallaglio Limited and discovered that he owes £423,570.43 for money loaned from the company. This was more than the £366,510 they initially thought he owed.
It said: ‘We corresponded with the director and ultimately demanded this sum. However, no response was received.’
The cash is needed by the company to pay a list of creditors which is headed by HMRC which has demanded payments of £290,000 and £64,000.
Other creditors include taxi firm Parker Cars Limited owed £1,891.82 and Coutts Bank owed £24,000.
The Liquidators Progress report said that Dallaglio’s company had lost cash went it went into liquidation last year.
It said that ITV had paid £37,903 for work on last year’s Rugby World Cup during the group stage.
But when the company went into liquidation midway through the tournament the TV company exercised an ‘insolvency clause’ which meant it did not have to pay the company for work in the knockout stage.
Former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio has blanked demands for cash to pay a £354,000 tax bill, documents claim
Dallaglio avoided the company being legally wound up in the High Court after his representatives told a judge he was liquidating the firm last year (Dallaglio is seen in 2004 lifting the Calcutta Cup after England’s win against Scotland in the Six Nations)
But now it is uncertain when or if, those owed cash will get money back.
The report said: ‘After taking into account assets realisations together with fees and expenses incurred to date, together with estimated future realisations, fees and expenses, the likelihood of a distribution to any class of creditor will depend on the recoverability of the Director’s Loan Account.’
Dallaglio avoided the company being legally wound up in the High Court after his representatives told a judge he was liquidating the firm last year.
HMRC had brought the case against the company, which he set up in 1997 when he first captained England, as it chased unpaid tax bills.
Instead it went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.
In a separate case in September last year another judge dismissed a bankruptcy petition lodged by tax officials against Dallaglio, who won 85 England caps and now works in television.
An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) official told Judge Sebastian Prentis that a ‘voluntary agreement’ had been reached.
The judge had, in May, given Dallaglio time to pay after being told that he owed about £700,000 in tax.
Fellow rugby star and former England international Phil Vickery had a request to be made bankrupt granted in February last year after reportedly racking up debts to HMRC and others totalling six figures.