Alta Gas Founder Fraud
Charges
Peter Bradley, founder of Alta Gas, has been
charged with 36 offences, including theft, false accounting and
Companies Act offences. He was detained in Majorca on suspicion
of £10 million fraud in November last year.
Alta Gas collapsed
six years ago when the Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation
into the company after it was revealed
that the firm had been overstating its financial position by
more than £40 million.
Invoicing irregularities came to
light when a major investor became suspicious about management
claims as they tried to raise
more funding from the company’s bankers. Receivers, saving
the majority of the firm’s jobs, eventually sold the company
to Flogas.
Kevin Mawer, administrative receiver at accountancy
firm, Grant Thornton, arranged the sale. He said: “The
fraud started the day the company started. A whole series of
people were duped
into lending money on the basis of false invoices that made out
that the company was more profitable than it really was.
“
On the face of it, the company was extremely successful, when
in fact it had been losing money every year.”
Peter Bradley
is currently being held at HM Prison Liverpool and is due to
appear in Liverpool Crown Court to plead in May.
A trial date has been set for March 2008.
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2007 News
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