The directors of a firm selling Certified Emission Reduction (CER) carbon credits have been disqualified from holding a directorship for a total of 43 years at the High Court.
Sami Raja, Sandeep Singh Dosanjh and Manjeet Matharu were found to have mis-sold carbon credits through the company Kendrick Zale Limited.
The Insolvency Service investigation which led to their disqualifications found that, between 28 May 2013 and 7 August 2013, members of the public paid £899,107 to Kendrick Zale for the purchase of Certified Emission Reduction carbon credits.
Kendrick Zale Limited purchased CER carbon credits from its suppliers at a cost of £0.67 and £0.87 per CER carbon credit – but sold them on to its customers for between £2.82 and £3.10, representing a mark up of at least 239% and a maximum of 359%.
Kendrick Zale Limited was, however, not authorised to hold CER carbon credits by the Department of the Environment – and used third parties to hold the carbon credits it purchased on behalf of its customers.
These credits were not registered in the individual names of the customers, but were held in the name of Kendrick Zale Limited in a sub-account belonging to the third party.
As a result of this, investors might not have access to the CER carbon credits they had purchased.
The wholesale spot price of CER carbon credits at the date of Liquidation was just £0.13 per carbon credit – making the carbon credits a wasting asset and further adding to the product’s unsuitability as an investment.
The Official Receiver, the Financial Conduct Authority and HM Revenue & Customs have not been able to identify a genuine secondary market –
nor have Raja, Dosanjh or Matharu.
At the High Court in February, Raja and Dosanjh were given the maximum disqualification of 15 years each and Matharu 13 years.
Matharu facilitated the operation of the company by allowing two persons – Raja and Dosanjh – who were not formally appointed as directors to control the company’s affairs.
Matharu stated to the Official Receiver that he was not aware of the company’s trading activities – and he “did not have a clue what carbon credits were”.
In court, Registrar Clive Jones said:
“The company was set up for deception and for personal profit at the expense of the public.”
After the hearing, The Official Receiver, Paul Titherington, added:
“Where a company is placed into compulsory liquidation and is found to have made misrepresentations to the public as to the suitability and viability of a product for investment, we will seek lengthy periods of disqualification of the directors responsible, as is seen in this case.”
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