Court clamps down on con attempt to cash in on environmental boom

A company which raised £5 million by selling shares but never sold a single product has been shut down by the High Court, with the presiding judge saying its operations were a deliberate scam.


UK-Euro Group Plc had attempted to develop technology which would control emissions at industrial sites by extracting harmful gases.

Over £5 million in shares were sold to raise money for the development but even though the technology was never completed and not a single unit was sold, the company paid a commission of around a third of the capital raised – over £1.5 million – to its ‘Investor Relations Team’.

Looking into the matter the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) found that the primary activity of the firm was not developing the technology, but raising finances.

The case wound up in the High Court where the company was forced into compulsory liquidation.

Before the High Court case the Financial Services Authority managed to get a restraining order placed on one of the company directors, a Mr Thomas, from cold calling potential investors.

Edward Bartley Jones QC, the judge who heard the case said: “The way in which the affairs of the company were conducted from start to finish was a fraud on the public, deliberately orchestrated and perpetrated by Mr Thomas.”

Sam Bond

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