Member Article

Land banking scheme shut down following investigation

Two companies have been ordered into liquidation by the High Court, following an investigation into the mis-selling of land and carbon credits.

Berkeley Warbeck Limited and its successor Dentam Frost Ltd both marketed residential-sized plots of underdeveloped land for investment, to the tune of £3.2m.

A third related company, Sloane Knight Ltd, marketed voluntary carbon credits for sale to the public as an investment.

Sites marketed were at Chilton Trinity near Bridgewater in Somerset; Beacon lane in Lincolnshire; Hatton in Warwickshire; Towcester in Northamptonshire; Woodmancote in Cheltenham and West Chesnut in Greater London.

Berkley Warbeck Limited, trading as Berkley Land, persuaded investors to part with some £2.7m for plots on the basis planning permission was likely to be granted, and therefore values would substantially increase within two to three years.

The Court heard how Michael Bohdjalian, Dylan Creaven and Chris Newhouse had benefited from unscrupulous trading.

Sloane Knight Ltd marketed carbon credits for a few weeks only, and was abandoned immediately after investigation of its affairs began.

Company Investigations Supervisor Chris Mayhew said: “The public needs to be on their guard against the activities of unscrupulous companies which exploit land banking and carbon credit trading as a means to induce investors to buy land or alternative investment products such as carbon credits on the promise of high returns which may never materialise.

“In this instance the land was sold for up to 31 times more than it cost in order to make those behind the companies wealthy, not investors.

“This decision sends a clear message that we will continue to clamp down on companies which deliberately mislead the public in this way and potentially ruin lives of honest people, particularly older investors.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .