‘G’ for Grounded: three global companies found to have been formed and run with a fraudulent intent

9 Oct 2015 10:20 AM

A group of three London companies, Genz Holdings Ltd, Gafo Me UK Ltd and Greens LD Ltd, reportedly having combined worldwide assets of over £445 million including an international airline business, have been ordered into liquidation in the public interest following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The investigation found that each company had filed false accounts at Companies House.

Genz operated a website www.genzholdings.co.uk which claimed the creation of the Group had been an:

extraordinary journey, one that had taken the management from heading a small company that imported and distributed foodstuff in 1948 to now chairing the board of directors of a globally recognized conglomerate of some thirteen companies that was managed by a team of professionals who had built an experience as managers and entrepreneurs in the most diversified industries, construction, aviation, foods, telecom and energy.

Gafo operated a website www.gafo.me.uk with a drop down menu with links to its subsidiary businesses Gafo Air, Gafo Aviation, Gafo Beity, Gafo Construct, Gafo Energy, Gafo Foods, Gafo Pro and Gafo Telecom.

Greens operated a website www.gtctelecom.net describing itself as one of the uprising organisations in the information and communication world with an experienced management team set to market in 50 countries to satisfy the growing world demand for telecommunication services and that it was expanding its network in Comoros (population 750,000) to increase capacity from 30,000 to 250,000 subscribers.

The independent auditor named in the companies’ accounts is Mr Habib Sharabaaty of GTC Accounting www.gtcaccounting.com whose website is linked with the foregoing servers.

Welcoming the court’s winding up decisions Chris Mayhew, Company Investigations Supervisor, said:

Far from being the incredible entrepreneurial journey claimed, this was no more than an exaggerated misrepresentation of reality designed to obtain credit in the same way as a related scam peddled in a much less ambitious way that was wound up in the public interest in 2009/10.

The level of competence displayed in the present companies is illustrated by the claimed international airline business having booking pages for its flights between Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Comoros and South Africa but showing a tropical landscape “St Thomas Island” which is in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

Business and members of the public should be able to rely on the statutory information filed by a company on its public register and otherwise made available and where abuses are found, as here, the Insolvency Service will investigate and take further enforcement action as necessary.

The Official Receiver now appointed to wind up these companies’ affairs will be glad to receive details from any creditors here or abroad who have dealt with any of the companies or their predecessors.

Notes to Editors

Genz Holdings Ltd (CRO No. 07422207), Gafo ME UK Ltd (CRO No. 0746026) and Greens LD Ltd (CRO No. 07802331) were each ordered into liquidation on 17 September 2015 having earlier been ordered to close on 30 July 2015 by Mr R Englehart QC sitting as a Deputy Judge.

The petitions to wind up the companies were presented in the High Court on 22 July 2015 under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries carried out by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.

The petitions were unopposed by the companies. The grounds to wind up the companies common to each were their lack of co-operation with the investigation; filing false financial statements; failure to comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 regarding the accounts and the maintenance of proper accounting records and, in the case of Genz Holdings Ltd and Gafo ME Ltd, attempting to obtain credit using false information.

In ordering the companies into liquidation on 17 September 2015 Ms Registrar Barber said that the grounds for their winding up in the public interest were fully made out and that she had no hesitation in ordering them into liquidation.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills has previously investigated Gafo Limited (05966572) and RNC Group Limited (05005881). Gafo Limited and RNC Group Limited were ordered into liquidation in the High Court in the public interest on 29 April 2010 and 4 March 2009 respectively on the petitions of the Secretary of State. Both of these companies had common shareholders and/or directors with the present companies. Dr Rashad Naqaweh was appointed as a director of Gafo Limited between 13 October 2006 and 10 March 2008. Dr Mohammed Rashad Naqaweh was appointed as a director of RNC Group Limited between 5 January 2004 and 10 March 2008.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). Further information about live company investigations is available.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

By virtue of the winding up orders all public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 0207 637 1110 Email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

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