Six directors have been banned for a total of 54 years after they misled more than 300 people to invest £12m into residential property developments in the north of England.
Four of the directors are based in Malaysia while the remaining two live in The Wirral and Kilburn, North-West London.
The Insolvency Service investigation centred on property firm Absolute Living Developments Limited.
The company sold apartments off-plan to investors who were largely based in Asia.
It is estimated that Absolute Living Developments secured at least £12m from people to invest in residential property schemes that were in various states of development.
Daniel Mark Harrison (38), from Kilburn North-West London, was the last of the directors to be disqualified and he was banned for six years through a court order on 28 November 2018.
During Harrison’s hearings, the court heard that Absolute Living Developments Limited was incorporated in November 2013, with registered offices in Liverpool.
The company sought out investments to convert commercial buildings into residential properties.
The developments were located predominately in Bradford and Greater Manchester.
People complained that having invested through Absolute Living Developments, the schemes had not been fully completed and the apartments were unliveable.
Absolute Living Developments was wound-up by order of the courts in April 2016 following the presentation of a petition by Bradford Council due to unpaid rates and investigations that followed principally focused on four developments – three in Bradford and one in Manchester.
Investigators discovered various examples of misconduct by Absolute Living Developments facilitated by the directors.
The company provided misleading and incomplete information about the developments to investors, meaning people couldn’t carry out due diligence.
Absolute Living Developments had no ability to ensure the terms of contracts with investors could be met and failed to provide adequate safeguards for money obtained from investors.
For one of the developments, Absolute Living Developments requested completion payments from investors despite the development not being completed.
And the company signed charges over Absolute Living Developments’ assets, which meant that a third party owns them and there are no remaining assets in the liquidation to pay creditors.
An independent insolvency practitioner has been appointed in this case to investigate recovery of assets for the benefit of creditors.
The liquidator’s actions are ongoing and to date they have received claims from creditors in excess of £68 million.
Ken Beasley, Official Receiver for the Insolvency Service said: “This was a complex investigation, considering the amount of money that was invested, not all of the directors were based in the UK and we worked with several other authorities.
“We want to draw attention to these rogue directors so we can alert people about the risks involved when investing, while also warning that we will investigate and tackle those that set out to deliberately rip people off by misrepresenting the investment opportunity on offer.”
Disqualified directors
Kien Cheong Yew (40) from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Disqualified from 29 January 2018 to 28 January 2030 (12 years) as a result of an undertaking.
Ameerali Bin Abas (39) from Selangor, Malaysia. Disqualified from 27 June 2018 to 26 June 2027 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.
Andrea Nicole Pacquiao Pieter (30) from Selangor, Malaysia. Disqualified from 20 March 2018 to 19 March 2027 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.
Adrianne Mei Kwan Nyau (40) from The Wirral. Disqualified from 14 December 2017 to 13 December 2026 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.
Chi Yeun Leong (68) from Bangsar, Malaysia. Disqualified from 21 December 2017 to 20 December 2026 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.
Daniel Mark Harrison (38) from Kilburn North-West London. Disqualified from 28 November 2018 to 27 November 2024 (6 years) as a result of a court order.
from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/12/24/rogue-developers-banned-for-ripping-off-investors/
via Tumblr http://ndbasilica.tumblr.com/post/181378178159
No comments:
Post a Comment