Claims could rock Toon bid
By Neil Farrington and Sarah Robertson, The Sunday Sun
December 17th, 2006
The Sunday Sun today sheds light on the would-be buyers of Newcastle United and the multi-million-pound collapse of a series of internet companies.
Belgravia Group Ltd, a Jersey company, is expected to launch a £150m-plus bid for the Premiership side in the new year.
We have uncovered documents which show that Belgravia's sister company, based in Gibraltar, was the majority shareholder of Unofon Group Ltd, whose failure sent shockwaves through Norway.
Dubbed the Unofon Scandal by newspapers there, it resulted in . . .
Scores of workers being left unpaid despite a court order they receive their wages
135,000 disappointed customers.
A probe into why millions of pounds from the coffers of the doomed companies ended up in Jersey bank accounts
And the near collapse of the Unofon-sponsored Norwegian Speed Skating federation.
A team of lawyers appointed by the Norway government is carrying out an investigation into the matter.
We have a document that says Belgravia Group Ltd, Gibraltar, owned 57.5 per cent of shares in Unofon.
The Belgravia Group, of Jersey, has launched the bid for Newcastle United.
It is wholly owned by Eagle Holdings Ltd, of the Cayman Islands, which also owns 85pc of the shares in the Gibraltar company.
Duncan Hickman is a director of this company and Ron Mitchell a shareholder.
They are fronting Belgravia Group Jersey's Newcastle United bid.
When a month ago we first approached Belgravia Group Ltd for comment about the Unofon scandal, its lawyer, Clive Sutton, told us: "Belgravia Group Limited had not been a shareholder of Unofon Group Limited at any time."
The company's spokesman, John West, said: "Belgravia also confirms that it had talks with Unofon and reached an agreement, subject to due diligence, to buy a significant stake in the business. "During its due diligence on Unofon, Belgravia discovered a number of issues of concern, which resulted in them immediately withdrawing from the agreement. "From our point of view, I think some people have spotted that we are a Jersey- registered company and Unofon is a Jersey-registered company and put two and two together and come up with five."
Mr Sutton then sent us what he claimed was Unofon's annual company return for 2005, which he stated was "conclusive in support of the same point". It said that Unofon was wholly owned by Baim Ltd, but the document we received from the Jersey companies registry was marked "amended copy". And the registry only received that document on November 22, 2006 . . . coincidentally the very day we asked Mr Sutton for documents to back his claims.
After further investigation, we were sent the Unofon Group's original annual return for 2005, received by the Jersey authorities on February 28, 2005. It states that Belgravia Group Gibraltar owned a 57.5 per cent stake in the Unofon Group. When we spoke to Mr West on Friday he said: "You would have to ask Clive (Sutton) about that because I don't know what documents he hasn't sent to you." When reminded that he himself had denied on the record that Belgravia Group Ltd were ever shareholders in Unofon, Mr West replied: "I've got nothing further to comment on this. What I said was what I have been advised by my clients." After being presented with the document, Mr Sutton said: "What appears to have happened with regard to the original Unofon Annual Return received by the Financial Services Authority on the 28th of February 2005 is that the return was lodged on the assumption that the proposal would come to fruition when in fact, as I have informed you, it did not." He also stated " . . . any previous version of that annual return stating otherwise was erroneous."
All versions of the annual returns for Unofon were signed by Toni Stevenson. A separate document reveals Toni Stevenson was secretary for Belgravia Group Jersey on February 26, 2006.
When asked about both companies sharing the same secretary, Mr Sutton at first refused to comment, then added: "The secretary is not available at the moment. She's away on a long-term holiday on the other side of the world."
According to media reports Belgravia Group Jersey is not the only company vying for control of Newcastle United, whose chairman in Freddy Shepherd.
The club's board last week denied it had accepted a £227m offer from US financiers Polygon and the United Bank of Switzerland.
Newcastle United plc's annual meeting is in London on Tuesday.
Near-miss for national sport federation
A sponsorship deal set up by the Unofon Group with the Norwegian Speed Skating Federation nearly ended with the collapse of the sports body.
Unofon paid just £50,000 of the agreed £200,000 - a shortfall which almost sent the Federation to the wall.
Unofon signed the skating deal in January 2005 - at a time when the annual return sent to us by the Jersey companies' register showed it was 57.5 per cent owned by the Gibraltar arm of the Belgravia Group.
The Norwegian Speed Skating Federation - named the Skøyteforbundet - cancelled the deal in June 2005 and the affair caused uproar in Norway, where speed skating is a national sport.
The Federation only avoided bankruptcy because another sponsor was found at the 11th hour.
Telecoms firm gets in a fix
The internet companies caught up in the scandal involving Unofon - the firm linked by our evidence to Belgravia Group, Gibraltar - were the FixTelecom group.
FixTelecom went bust owing at least £15 million in April 2005, sparking a Norwegian Government- authorised probe.
FixTelecom was owned by the Unofon Group . . . the company which, according to documents we have received, was controlled by Belgravia Group Ltd of Gibraltar.
The Unofon Group closed FixTelecom's call centre in Spain in April 2005, sacking its 50-strong staff on the spot.
Unofon has failed to comply with a Spanish court order to pay the workers eight months' wages each in compensation. And the Unofon director who went to Malaga to close the call centre has told us that she was working on the orders of Belgravia Group Gibraltar.
Siri Wormdahl, the then director of Unofon Group's Nordic and Baltic operations, said: "The Belgravia Group told me to fire all the people in Spain." Ms Wormdahl added: "The guy from Belgravia that was having the main contact with us was Russell King. "But I went to London two or three times and met other people from the Belgravia Group there and in Oslo.
I met Ian Halliwell and James Butterfield. "The first time I met Russell was with Ole Børresen and Frode Trollebø (FixTelecom directors). "Then Russell came to the call centre and we showed him how we were communicating with customers." But Ms Wormdahl claimed she was then told to close the call centre by Belgravia . . . and worse was to follow. "We were then not paid. Not only the customers suffered, we all did. "We emailed Blair Bond (another Belgravia director) and Ian Halliwell and asked what was going on."
Having later left Unofon, Wormdahl - once a director of Norwegian football club Valerenga - now works for another Scandinavian telecoms company.
How the events unfolded
June 2004:
Discussions over merger of Belgravia Telecom (part of Belgravia Group companies in Jersey) with Norwegian firm FixTelecom to form Unofon Group.
NOVEMBER 2004:
Planned date of the formation of Unofon Group Ltd.
JANUARY 2005:
Unofon Group sign a deal to sponsor the Norwegian Skating Federation.
APRIL 2005:
Staff at FixTelecom call centre - owned by Unofon - sacked without notice or severance pay.
JUNE 2005:
Norwegian Skating Federation cancels Unofon sponsorship deal after receiving £50,000 of the £200,000 promised.
SEPTEMBER 2005:
Spanish court orders Unofon to pay each FixTelecom call centre worker up to eight months' wages in compensation.
MARCH 2006:
Norwegian authorities start investigating the collapse of FixTelecom group.
AUGUST 2006:
Belgravia Group Jersey admits interest in buying Newcastle United.
NOVEMBER 18:
Belgravia Group Jersey spokesman admits the company made a loan to the Unofon Group but said they never bought a shareholding in the company.
NOVEMBER 22:
Sunday Sun asks for proof that Belgravia Group were never shareholders in Unofon Group Ltd in 2005.
NOVEMBER 22:
Jersey's Financial Services Commission receives "amended copy" of Unofon Group Ltd 2005 annual return which does not list Belgravia Group Gibraltar as shareholders.
NOVEMBER 25:
Belgravia Group lawyer Clive Sutton sends the Sunday Sun the same annual return.
DECEMBER 12:
Jersey's FSC provides the Sunday Sun with Unofon Group Ltd's original annual return for 2005 . . . listing Belgravia Group Gibraltar as 57.5pc shareholders.
DECEMBER 16:
Gibraltar Companies' House documents confirm that Belgravia Group Ltd Gibraltar is 88 per cent owned by Eagle Holdings Ltd, sole owners of the Jersey-based Belgravia Group.
Nufcmismanagement view:
This looks like an excellent piece of journalism, it would be nice to see as much effort going into our current owners to put them under pressure. Obviously our local journalists don't want to bite the hand that feeds them, double standards could be claimed.