Grantham land scam shut down
Two companies attempting to sell off plots of agricultural land in Grantham have been wound up in the High Court after a government investigation.
Regency Land Sales and Regency Land Group IBC, based in London, Spain and Belize, were shut down after an investigation by the government's Companies Investigations, part of The Insolvency Service.
The Insolvency Service said its investigation found Regency Land Group, formed in Belize and operated from offices in Spain, used telesales methods to sell small plots of agricultural land in Grantham to members of the public.
The company "misleadingly suggested the land would 'accrue further value when it was rezoned for planning purposes'", said the service. It added that enquiries made to the local authority by investigators confirmed there was "no real prospect of such rezoning taking place".
Regency Land Sales, an England and Wales registered company, acted as UK sales agent for its offshore relation.
The Insolvency Service said its investigation followed on from an earlier enquiry into Britannia Land Management, which also sold land in Grantham. It identified similar concerns over the activities of that company, resulting in it being wound up by the High Court in the public interest on 18 October 2010.
Both Britannia and the Regency companies have been managed by Llewellyn Adam Hannah-Shelton, a UK citizen resident in Spain.
The Insolvency Service said: "During the investigation, Hannah-Shelton and others said to be in control of the two companies failed to co-operate with Investigators and did not provide full information regarding their affairs.
"Nevertheless, the investigators were able to establish that the land sold to the public was never legally transferred into their names and that whilst purchasers were given a 'guarantee' of 8 per cent growth on their investment in the first 12 months, this was entirely illusory."
On 7 September 2011, the business secretary Vince Cable successfully applied to the High Court to have the official receiver appointed as provisional liquidator of both companies.
