A Rochdale-based company which contacted victims of fraud and falsely claimed to be able to obtain compensation for their losses has been wound-up in the High Court following an investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch of The Insolvency Service.
European Mediation Limited cold-called victims of previous frauds and stated that it was able to recover their losses from the European Compensation Fund. Although the company purported to act on a no win no fee basis it required the client to make an up front payment of 10pc of the compensation to be sought. The investigation found no evidence to suggest that the fund described by the company exists.
According to its website the company operated from its registered office address at 6 Pearson Close, Milnrow, Rochdale. This address was found to be a terraced house which was listed as the residential address of one of the company’s directors and it is believed that the telesales staff were based at a call centre in Malaga, Spain. The directors of the company could not be located at the addresses they had provided to the Registrar of Companies.
Information provided by the company’s bankers show that it had received an income of some £670,000. None of the clients who had paid monies to the company are known to have received any compensation or valuable service and the funds had been withdrawn from the account for the benefit of the company’s directors and associated businesses.
In winding up European Mediation Limited the Court held that the company had operated in a manner contrary to the public interest by falsely claiming to be able to obtain compensation for client losses; by providing false and misleading information on its website about its trading address and the number of years it had been operating; by providing false information to the Registrar of Companies relating to the residential addresses of the directors; and that the company officers had failed to cooperate with the investigation.
Further information about the work of The Insolvency Service is available from –
