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FOUR companies involved in selling investment land with false claims about its development prospects have been wound up in the High Court after they cheated investors out of £3.3million.

Complete Building Systems Limited, Rawtenstall CBS Limited, Evesham CBS Limited, and Hounslow West London Limited were linked to an earlier business, The Property Partnership, which I warned was itself part of a network of scam land firms that included Nationwide Land Developments, Burnhill Land, Portfolio Land Acquisitions, and Elite Land Developments. All have ceased trading and five bosses have been disqualified from acting as company directors.

Some victims of the four latest scams were cheated more than once. Insolvency Service investigator Chris Mayhew said: ‘Investors were bullied and lied to by these rogue companies and their representatives to persuade them to invest in plots of negligible value.

‘Some investors were falsely told that unless they bought more plots, their existing plots would not be developed and would become recreational plots such as flower beds or children’s play areas, and that they would then be charged maintenance by the local authority.’

Of the £3.3million raked in from victims, £1.4million went in commission to sales staff, including central figures Michael Doohan, 25, from South London, and Steven Sulley, 29. I warned in 2012 that Sulley, from Brixton, South London, was behind a scam carbon credits investment company, Carbon Green Capital, and that he and Doohan are together behind a wine investment business, DS Vintners. The registered director of all four of the latest scam companies is Christopher Shipton, 54, from Godalming, in Surrey. He pocketed £627,000.

Although it is a criminal offence under the Fraud Act to mislead investors deliberately to make a profit, no arrests are known to have been made, despite the evidence secured by the Insolvency Service, and it appears those involved will be allowed to keep the money.