A FORMER restaurant owner arrested on suspicion of committing fraud has been declared bankrupt and disqualified from being a director for nine years.

Shaun Griffin, aged 51, from Launceston, was arrested in April by officers from Devon and Cornwall Police. He is currently on police bail, pending further inquiries, until September 21.

The arrest is understood to relate to the time when he was the director of Harmony's Restaurant Ltd, which owned Harmony's Restaurant in Royal Parade.

The Herald reported in February last year how a large number of staff at the venue were unexpectedly made redundant and the restaurant closed.

Police have confirmed a 51-year-old man from Launceston had been arrested on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position, fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading. Police did not name the man.

The case is being investigated by officers from Plymouth CID and the Plymouth Asset Recovery Team.

The Herald has now learned through documents freely available through Government websites that Griffin was recently disqualified from being a director. The start of the disqualification began on July 12 this year and will expire on July 11, 2019.

The report, from the Insolvency Service states the type of insolvency is a "creditors voluntary liquidation" with a deficiency of £482,066.

In a separate statement on the "individual insolvency register" — a publicly available register — the status of Griffin is "currently bankrupt" with an automatic discharge on November 2, 2010.

The statement relates to a bankruptcy case dealt with at Plymouth County Court on November 2, 2009, five months prior to his arrest.

Police say their own investigations are ongoing.