Director
disqualified for £1.7 million landbanking scam that left customers with
virtually worthless land
A
company director who ran an extensive landbanking scam through his three
companies that misled members of the public into parting with at least £1.7
million for small plots of land of little value has been disqualified from
being a company director for 14 years.
A company director who
ran an extensive landbanking scam through his three companies that misled
members of the public into parting with at least £1.7 million for small plots
of land of little value has been disqualified from being a company director for
14 years.
Eren Metcalfe, formerly
known as Eren Cemal Ibrahim, was the sole director of Natural Wealth Solutions
Ltd, Proctor Capital Ltd and Land Security Management Ltd, three companies that
were wound up in the public interest by the Secretary of State for Business,
Innovation and Skills, after an investigation carried out by Live
Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, following complaints by members
of the public.
Examination of the
companies’ affairs by the Official Receiver after the winding up orders showed
that, between them, Natural Wealth Solutions Ltd and Proctor Capital Ltd
received at least £1.7 million, the proceeds of a land banking scheme which
misled members of the public in order to induce them to buy plots of land as an
investment, when it was not.
The companies’
salespeople represented the plots of land that they marketed as being suitable
for development and having a realistic prospect of obtaining planning
permission. However, the land sold to customers had little, if any, value for
development purposes and was sold at mark ups of between 18 and 63 times the
purchase price per acre. None of the land had planning permission, and had
little prospect of obtaining it. Neither Mr Metcalfe nor the staff had any
expertise in assessing land, and made no enquiries as to the likelihood of
planning permission being granted.
Commenting on the
disqualifications Paul Titherington, Official Receiver at The Insolvency
Service’s Public Interest Unit, said:
As with
all the other land banking companies that the Official Receiver has dealt with
over many years, these companies have brought misery to unsuspecting members of
the public, who were persuaded to part with their savings in exchange for
virtually worthless plots of land. In over 7 years of dealing with land banking
scams I have not seen a single piece of land that has been sold in this way
actually go on to obtain planning permission. Every single customer has lost
their money in what was a horrendous investment. (Bold by ed)
Although for a relatively small total 'at least £1.7 million compared to the £35 million involved in the Countrywide Land £35 million fraud, it has some of the same hallmarks – land sold on the virtually impossible promise that it would be rezoned and investors systematically misled by a boiler room telesales staff.
Countrywide Land sold plots of land that were touted as an investment. In
reality they were worthless of next to worthless. Some of the ringleaders of this £35 million fraud were jailed on 8th
March 2013, although Andrew Dunne is believed to be still in Northern Cyprus.
