Apprentice star Raef Bjayou faces embarrassment over accounts
Silver-tongued Raef Bjayou may be one of the favourites to win The Apprentice TV show, but back in the real world of business he has slipped up in rather embarrassing fashion.
His import-export company - called Infinitate - is facing a fine after failing to file its annual accounts to Companies House on time.
Despite Mr Bjayou’s claim that Infinitate was “born through the idea that clients need attention to detail”, the company’s accounts are now more than three weeks overdue.
As long as he sends in the accounts within three months of his April 12 deadline, he will only be facing a £100 penalty. However, if Mr Bjayou is more than a year late, he will face a £1000 fine and a likely prosecution.
A spokesman for Mr Bjayou insisted that there was nothing untoward about his failure to file the accounts by the official deadline.
“It was an oversight that occurred because his accountant was on holiday,” she said. “He was completely unaware and will send them in now, but he has done all of his tax returns.”
Infinitate’s website insists that it is “one of the leading niche distributors in the UK”, having “already secured deals with several large organisations in both the USA and Western Europe”.
However, the 27-year-old former public schoolboy runs the business from a semi-detached house in the suburban sprawl of Dollis Hill, north-west London.
In contrast to Mr Bjayou’s GQ poster-boy style, the house has broken guttering, slipped tiles, an overgrown garden and a Vauxhall Corsa in the drive.
The spokesman confirmed that Mr Bjayou does work from the Dollis Hill house but added that it was only one of four properties that he owns.
Mr Bjayou, who brags that he is “a natural born salesman” who has “faced death in the face many times”, is one of the favourites to win The Apprentice. By doing so, he would land a job as an “apprentice” to entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar, earning a six-figure salary in the process.
Last week, on the BBC’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show, Sir Alan revealed his admiration for Mr Bjayou, saying “he’s actually a very nice fellow”.