Press release

Bogus sustainable energy companies wound-up in court

Three companies connected to bogus sustainable energy processing schemes have been wound-up in court after eliciting at least £525,000 from investors.

Elcourt Ltd, WSR Hawker Ltd and Devo Group Ltd were wound up in the public interest on 9 June 2020 in the High Court before Judge Prentis. The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the companies.

In considering the petitions, the court heard that all three companies promoted and sold investments into sustainable energy processing schemes.

Elcourt traded as AD Baxton and claimed it provided brokering services, offering people the opportunity to acquire bonds in the two connected renewable energy companies, WSR Hawker Ltd and Devo Group Ltd.

However, the company was found to never had any presence at its registered address and in April 2019, the financial regulators issued a warning against Elcourt for providing unauthorised financial services and products.

Devo Group said it collected used cooking oil from various food and catering vendors within the UK and Europe to convert into biodiesel, while WSR Hawker described itself as a developer of wind power generation sites. However neither company had any official presence at their registered addresses.

Following petitions submitted by the Insolvency Service on behalf of the Secretary of State the court found that the entirety of the companies’ operations was a sham.

The court also heard that none of the bogus sustainable energy companies cooperated with the investigation and from the limited amount of data available, investigators uncovered that at least six investors made investments of £525,000.

During proceedings, Judge Prentis commented that it was no surprise that the three companies were not represented in court and that there was overwhelming evidence a fraud had been perpetrated.

Irshard Mohammed, Senior Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said

All three companies fraudulently tricked people into investing in so-called safe and environmentally-friendly businesses. However, any trading presented by these companies appears to have been entirely fictitious and from the £525,000 worth of investments we know about, no returns have been received.

The court thankfully recognised this misconduct and removed the companies from the corporate arena.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the companies should be made to:

  • The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 16th Floor, 1 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, E20 1HZ
  • Telephone: 020 7637 1110
  • Email: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk

Notes to editors

About the companies

Elcourt Ltd (Company number: 10586993) was incorporated on 02 July 2013. The current registered office is located at 3rd Floor, 42 – 44 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AH. The company has never been authorised to use that address as its registered office address.

The current appointed director of the company is Hussain Servin. The authorised share capital of the company is shown as 1 ordinary shares of £1, with that share being allotted to Hussain Servin.

WSR Hawker Ltd (Company number: 09599892) was incorporated on 20 May 2015. The current registered office is located at 28 Throgmorton Street, London EC2N 2AQ. Again, that company has never been authorised to use that address as its registered office address.

The current appointed director of the company is Giovani Roberto. The authorised share capital of the Company is shown as 1,000 ordinary shares of £1, with those shares being allotted to Giovani Roberto.

Devo Group Ltd (Company number: 10024905) was incorporated on 24 February 2016. The current registered office is located at 20-28 The Crescent, Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham B37 7YE. As per the other companies Devo Group Ltd has never been authorised to use that address as its registered office address.

The current appointed director of the company is Arthur Lambard. The authorised share capital of the Company is shown as 1 ordinary shares of £1, with that share being allotted to Arthur Lambard.

Petition process

The petitions were presented by The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) on 08 April 2020 for WSR Hawker Ltd and 01 May 2020 for Elcourt Ltd and Devo Group Ltd in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts in England and Wales (CR-2020-002128 Devo Group Limited, CR-2020-002129 Elcourt Limited, CR-2020-002131 WSR Hawker Limited), under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for BEIS. Further information about live company investigations is available here.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available here.

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Published 16 June 2020