David Horan of Droylesden, Manchester, Carlo Abbonizio of Yeadon, Leeds and Paul Percival of Bideford, North Devon have been banned for eight years each following an investigation by Companies Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service.

The three men were directors of publishing company Yellow Partnership and connected businesses MPH and Strawberry Education, which contacted small businesses informing them that they were printing wall planners, directories and school publications.

Businesses paid for inclusion, with part of the money supposedly going to charity. However, in many cases the products were never published and little of the money raised went to charity.

Ken Beasley, official receiver, public interest unit Manchester said: "These charity publishing scams play on people’s generosity and goodwill and this is what makes this type of deception particularly insidious, especially as none of us are immune to it.

"Besides charities losing out it also brings bad publicity for publishing companies who are operating their businesses properly."

The Insolvency Service also claimed that business were billed and threatened with legal action if they refused to pay. All three companies went into administration in 2008 with no assets or liabilities, but more than £1m worth of creditors.

The investigation found that, from 1 July 2007 to 31 August 2008, Yellow Partnership received at least £958,872 from customer payments of between £300 and £500. But it only paid £47,000 to registered charities during the period, while £57,159 was paid to the company's directors.

In the same period MPH received £444,253, with £18,750 going to registered charities and £53,948 to its directors, while Strawberry International received at least £634,096 and paid £43,300 to its directors but made charitable donations.

When the Insolvency Service has concluded its civil investigation the details may be passed to another authority to take forward a criminal investigation.