London mayoral candidate is barred from being a company director and believes aliens 'have been here for a long time'

24 January 2024, 08:30

By Henry Riley

@HenryRiley1

LBC can reveal that one of the candidates vying to be the Mayor of London is standing despite banned by the Insolvency Agency from being a company director.

It would mean that, were he successful, Shyam Batra could represent around 9 million people in the Capital, despite a court order preventing him from being involved with the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Mr Batra also posted on his official Facebook account in August of last year a video regarding alien life with the caption “I have said all along, aliens have been here for a long time. They're also blending into our communities without us, knowing under for superior than us and live way longer”

Shyam Batra styles himself as the ‘Ambassador For Hope’ standing as an Independent Candidate for Mayor on a “transformational agenda”. His website says he has been involved in over £100million worth of business and will focus on getting London’s economy “thriving”.

London mayoral candidate is barred from being a company director and believes aliens 'have been here for a long time'

He describes himself as a “self-proclaimed no-nonsense, common-sense man from Uxbridge” and has pledged to scrap the entire Ulez and congestion charges, as well as reduce London train fares by 50%.

On top of this he will aim to reduce train fares, which will rise by 4.9% in March and currently under Khan’s regime, by up to 50%.

However, his website neglects to mention that under his birth name ‘Ghanshyam Sarup Batra’ in 2021 a disqualification order was upheld by the Insolvency Agency barring him from being a company director until March 2028. The notice cites his conduct whilst working for Dylan Lettings Worldwide Ltd - the managing agent of three converted former hotels in central London.

In April 2017, Ghanshyam Batra and associated companies were ordered by the court to pay a confidential settlement connected to £6.5 million of arrears owed to mortgage lenders. A subsequent Insolvency Service investigation found Mr Batra breached a court order when he transferred almost £106,000 from the company’s bank account into his own.

Mr Batra also had a run in with the Financial Conduct Authority in 2010 who found that he was not “fit and proper” in relation to a mortgage broker business. After a tribunal a judge found that he had made false and misleading representations in mortgage applications and lacked integrity.

In response to LBC’s findings, Mr Batra told in a statement "I wish to be known as Shyam Batra as advised to the GLA prior to me running provisionally for London Mayor. If however for anyone is interested my birth name as per my birth certificate it is Ghanshyam Sarup Batra.

I Shyam Batra, wish to make everyone aware of the fact that due to a discrepancy, some 10 years ago approx  there was a position and decision made that I should be investigated with regards to the FCA. This resulted in myself having an obstruction when working as a regulated financial adviser.

"However, the circumstances were not clearly explained at the time, and I myself felt I had been done a disservice from an authority."

Speaking with LBC Mr Batra said: "It is surprising that you are fixated about me, this election is about London. What you are discussing happened over 10 years ago". He added that he hoped to reveal that he had been barred as a company director at a "press conference" at a point "in the near future".