UK Officials Close Down Four ARM Companies After Investigation
English regulators have shut down six related companies, four of which were debt collection agencies. The government's investigation found empty offices and no officers, despite more than $1.5 million in company bank accounts.
The United Kingdom’s Insolvency Service said Wednesday that six companies based in Blackburn and Manchester have been closed by the High Court following an investigation by the government’s Companies Investigation Branch (CIB)
Four of the companies -- UK Wide Debt Management Limited, Frasier Goldberg Limited, ADC Organisation Limited and ADC Recoveries & Legal Services Limited – were registered as debt collection agencies. The two other companies -- Royal Foods limited and Rabi Foods Limited – were linked to the collection agencies through common directors and addresses.
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The CIB, a branch of the UK regulatory structure responsible for investigating complaints against businesses, said that their investigation could not produce officers registered to the businesses. Further, the companies were not operating at the addresses to which they were registered.
Despite this, from January 2005 to October 2008, some £880,000 ($1.4 million) had been deposited into bank accounts in ADC Organisation Limited’s name, with another $150,000 deposited into Frasier Goldberg accounts.
The CIB said that since the officers could not be located, and since proper accounting records had not been filed, it “was not possible to establish what element of that income was generated from up-front fees paid by client or from monies recovered from client’s debtors. It was also not possible to establish whether monies collected on behalf of clients had been paid to those clients by the company.”
The High Court decided that the companies should be wound up to best serve the public interest. This basically forces the companies into compulsory liquidation and prevents any future trading.
A Web search for ADC Organization Limited, the largest of the companies, did return a result in a UK business directory. According to the listing, the company was established in 1995 and is described as “the first ever Asian Debt Collection Agency.” A Web address listed for further information on the company was invalid.
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