Stung by criticism over its toothlessness in the face of fraudulent information on beneficial owners that countless companies are submitting to its register of persons of significant control, Companies House in the UK has fined someone for his false submissions.

HM Government is hailing the fine as a momentous development in the annals of ultimate beneficial owner surveillance. Business Minister Andrew Griffiths told reporters: "This prosecution – the first of its kind in the UK – shows the Government will come down hard on people who knowingly break the law and file false information on the company register."

The chosen target was one Kevin Brewer, a businessman who had the effrontery to incorporate John Vincent Cable Services Ltd in 2013, making the former Business Secretary Vince Cable MP a director and shareholder without his knowledge. Companies House took action - it is not known after how many months - to dissolve the company and take it off the register.

Brewer, 65, then formed another company in 2016 called Cleverly Clogs Ltd, making Baroness Neville-Rolfe (the minister who was responsible for Companies House at the time), James Cleverly MP and an imaginary Israeli called Ibrahim Aman all directors and shareholders without their knowledge. Companies House dissolved the company and took it off the company register.

Brewer, from Ullenhall in Warwickshire, was ordered to pay more than £12,000 after he pled guilty to 'filing' false information on the UK’s company register at a hearing in Redditch Magistrates’ Court on 15 March.

This is thought to be the first time a company director has been successfully prosecuted for falsifying company information under laws which came into force in 2009.