Name: David Diego Obodoechina-Joseph

Name: DIVAD TRAINING LIMITED

Date of Birth: 6 / 3 / 1973

Date Order Starts: 8 / 9 / 2025

Disqualification Length: 6 Years  Month(s)

CRO Number: 09863950

Last Known Address: 6 Greystoke Gardens, , , , ENFIELD, EN2 7NX

Conduct: Between 23 September 2021 and 22 December 2021, David Diego Obodoechina-Joseph (“Mr Joseph”) caused DIVAD Training Limited (“DIVAD”) to use grant funds advanced by a Turing Scheme Administrator (“TSA”), on behalf of a UK Government Department, totalling £62,987 for purposes other than those for which the monies were advanced, in violation of a Grant Funding Agreement (“the Agreement”) entered into by Mr Jospeh on behalf of DIVAD on 20 August 2021. As a result, the TSA was owed £62,987 upon the liquidation of DIVAD: • Between November 2019 and December 2020, DIVAD received £643,288 in European grant monies to fund the delivery of 350 traineeship placements (“Mobilities”) under two separate projects. Both projects were affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic such that by May 2021, DIVAD had delivered 28 of the planned 350 Mobilities. No further Mobilities were delivered by the latest project end date of 30 September 2022 or by the time DIVAD entered liquidation on 15 May 2023. • On 04 December 2020, DIVAD’s primary source of income, derived from UK Government apprenticeship funding, was suspended and not reinstated prior to its liquidation. • It was in these circumstances that, between 12 March 2021 and 07 May 2021 at the latest, Mr Joseph caused DIVAD to apply for Turing Scheme grant funding of £325,697 to deliver a further 112 Mobilities to Spain by the project end date of 31 August 2022. The planned Mobilities comprised 100 Learners and 12 Accompanying Participants, including 60 Learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, for which a grant uplift of £110 per participant, per month was requested. The first Mobilities were planned to take place in November 2021 (‘Activity 2’). The TSA approved DIVAD’s application on 29 July 2021 and agreed to provide a slightly reduced total grant of £317,297. • On 20 August 2021, Mr Joseph entered into the Agreement with the TSA on behalf of DIVAD, the terms of which specified that all grant funds advanced must be used solely for the delivery of the funded activities and that all unspent monies must be returned to the TSA no later than thirty days after the TSA’s request for repayment. • DIVAD received grant funding totalling £62,987 paid to its bank account in two instalments: £27,328 on 23 September 2021, which represented 80% of the ‘Organisational Support’ payment and was intended to cover costs directly linked to the administration and implementation of the project, and £35,659 on 02 November 2021, which represented 80% of the Mobility costs associated with delivering Activity 2, including participants’ costs of living, travel expenses and linguistic support. Immediately prior to the receipt of the first instalment on 23 September 2021, DIVAD’s combined bank balances totalled £398. • Bank statement analysis and international payment information provided by the bank confirms that DIVAD transferred £17,000 of the grant funds to a Mauritian bank in Dubai on 12 November 2021. It is Mr Joseph’s position that the £17,000 was paid to a partner organisation for administrative and operations support for the project, however no evidence has been supplied in support of the payment and as such it remains unclear who the recipient was and how the funds were used. In accordance with the terms of the Agreement, DIVAD was required to retain invoices, receipts, accounting records and other documentation (including correspondence) relating to the project for a period of seven years from the date on which the funding period ended. • Analysis of DIVAD’s bank statements confirms that of the remaining £45,987 grant funds received by DIVAD, at least £21,222 from the payment received on 23 September 2021 was used to pay staffing costs (employees and freelancers), rent and legal fees, and at least £14,056 of the payment received on 02 November 2021 was used to cover staffing costs, IT support and software, accountancy fees, director’s salary, utilities and building work. All grant monies were expended by 22 December 2021. No evidence has been provided in support of the grant funds being used for the purpose for which they were advanced and Mr Joseph confirms no Mobilities took place. • According to the terms of the Agreement, recipients of grants over £40,000 were required to provide an Annual Certification of Expenditure together with their Final Report to the TSA, to be signed by a reporting accountant independent of the grant recipient. DIVAD failed to submit a Final Report to the TSA within 28 days of the project end date, per the terms of the Agreement, resulting in the TSA issuing DIVAD with a Pre-Recovery Notice on 30 November 2022 for the immediate repayment of total grant funds of £62,987 due to non-compliance. • DIVAD failed to repay the grant funds, resulting in £62,987 being owed to the TSA on liquidation. 

This information is correct as at 19 / 8 / 2025

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