Is this village really home to seven Hungarian zoos?
NESTLED around a pretty harbour, Cemaes is an unlikely location for a wildlife park.
So locals in Wales’s most northerly village were surprised to learn that seven firms claiming to be setting up ‘botanical and zoological gardens’ or ‘nature reserves’ were registered there over eight days last month.
The village’s 1,300 residents are unlikely, however, to be joined by lions, elephants and monkeys any time soon.
A Mail on Sunday investigation can reveal that Cemaes is the latest place to fall victim to a soft-touch system that lets anyone create a business in the UK without proof of identity.
Experts say lax controls at Companies House, the government agency where firms are registered, means tens of thousands of ‘shell companies’ are created – and can be used by fraudsters and money launderers. Many use the addresses of people without their knowledge.
Blameless property owners with no link to the companies or their activities usually only discover their premises have been registered as the headquarters of a new company when a letter arrives from Companies House.
The seven new firms in Cemaes all claim to have Hungarian directors and are supposedly based in seven fishermen’s cottages on the same road.
The owners of three said their homes were used without consent. Andy Rees, a professor of pathology in Vienna, who uses his cottage when in the UK, said it was a ‘total surprise’ that the firm Akiaakiaa00 was registered there, adding: ‘I have absolutely no plans to set up a zoo.’
Jim McNamara, 67, and wife Joyce, 70, whose holiday cottage has been used without permission, said: ‘It’s disgraceful they are able to do this. It’s frightening us to death because there are so many fraud stories.’
The Cemaes firms are among 17 registered with Hungarian directors last month for ‘botanical and zoological gardens and nature reserves activities’. They were uncovered by fraud expert Graham Barrow, a former investigator for HSBC and Deutsche Bank, who said: ‘Similar structures have been identified in money laundering schemes.’
Incorporating a company in the UK can help a person open a bank account anywhere in the world and provide a gateway to the global financial system.
Ministers intend to give Companies House powers to verify company information. A spokesman said it refers potential fraud to law enforcement agencies, adding: ‘At present Companies House don’t have statutory powers to investigate fraud and verify the accuracy of information provided by UK companies.’
A legitimate firm, registered in Cemaes last August, hopes to open a nature reserve. There is no suggestion of impropriety.