20% profit was as unlikely to show up as Clooney
A COMPANY that promised investors a 20 per cent return on a development project in a remote area of Norway is facing winding-up proceedings in the High Court following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
The Convent In The Hills Limited is based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. A year after it was established in 2014 it announced plans to build 30 ecologically friendly homes in a forest in southern Norway.
The minimum investment was £15,000 and backers were told to expect a 20 per cent profit within just 12 months – but the company failed to file accounts that were legally due by March last year. This is an offence.
The couple behind the project – Matthew and Charlotte Roberts, both bankrupt – are linked to a dozen other companies, all of which traded from a former Gloucestershire convent used in recent years as a hotel and music venue.
The Musicians’ Union has issued a warning to its members after some performers complained they were not paid.
Investment in the Norwegian property scheme was promoted by a separate company, International Commercial Investment Ltd, based in Mayfair, Central London. I warned in 2013 that International Commercial Investment was drumming up funds for what was claimed would be a £62 million blockbuster movie about Greenpeace, starring George Clooney.
But Clooney had never agreed to appear and the movie was never made.
Also in 2013, I sounded the alarm when the Mayfair firm promoted investment in Store First, a controversial storage pod company. That too is facing a winding-up petition from the Government.
Insolvency Service investigators say investors have poured at least £7.8 million into companies connected to Matthew and Charlotte Roberts.
Petitions to wind up a total of 13 companies will be heard in the High Court on September 20.