Crime Solicitors

The director of a firm selling carbon credits has been disqualified for 14 years, following an investigation by the Official Receiver at the Public Interest Unit – a specialist team of the Insolvency Service.

The Public Interest Unit became involved at the winding up of the company Beta Commodities Limited (BCL) in the public interest – following an investigation by Company Investigations into the affairs of the company.

James Michael Cable, 35, from Eastleigh – a director of Beta Commodities Limited – was involved in the selling of Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs) as an investment.

Beta Commodities Limited was incorporated on 5 October 2011, with its trading address at 26-28 Bedford Row, London WC1.

The investigators found that, between April and October 2012, BCL made sales totalling £681,000 by cold calling members of the public to sell them VERs. The company charged clients between two and five times the price it had paid its supplier.

As early as 2010, it was apparent that HM Revenue & Customs, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Registries and the carbon credit market’s own self-regulating authorities considered that there was no viable exit strategy for the carbon credits sold by BCL at the time – and, even if there were, members of the public had no access to it.

Furthermore, even if there had been a viable exit strategy, the price BCL was charging for the carbon credits meant that they could not be sold without financial loss.

On 28 March 2016, Cable gave an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills to be disqualified as a director for a period of 14 years from 22 April 2016, meaning he cannot promote, manage, or be a director of a limited company until 2030.

Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit, Paul Titherington, said:

“Mr Cable should have known that the carbon credits the company was selling were wholly unsuitable as an investment, given the price the company charged – and the absence of a marketplace where investors could sell their carbon credits.

“As a result of this investigation, the marketplace has been protected from Mr Cable – who has been banned from acting as a director for a substantial period of time.”

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