As more details were unearthed
last month of the scale of the Global EPP scam, it emerged that
lessors bought no less than 579 pieces of equipment for the
Leicester-based plastics manufacturer, and yet only 71 of these
machines actually existed.
Further details of the nature of the
alleged fraud have also appeared, including the involvement of the
manufacturer of the equipment – comprised exclusively of extrusion
line machines – in the scandal.
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By the time EPP Global ceased trading,
leasing companies had become exposed to total losses of £64 million
($96.3 million). The lessors involved include Lombard, HSBC, Bank
of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, CIT, Co-operative Bank, Barclays,
Clydesdale, Allied Irish Banks, Alliance & Leicester Commercial
Services, Siemens Financial Services, Landesbanki, Bank of Ireland,
Deutsche Leasing and Fortis Leasing.
Part of the alleged scam involved a
company called HTL Limited, which manufactured the machines. It
convinced lessors to buy the equipment by stating that Global EPP
had made orders for them. It has emerged that HTL in fact had the
same ownership as Global EPP, and has not traded since Global EPP
collapsed late last year. Global EPP’s administrators,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, have arranged a trade sale of the 71
machines in place to a German trade buyer.
Some recoveries are also expected from
sales of EPP Global’s shareholdings in overseas subsidiaries in the
Philippines, Mexico and Russia that continue to trade. However, it
seems that the lessors and other creditors can expect only a
fractional recovery of their losses.
The criminal fraud investigation is
proceeding, though no charges have as yet been brought. A suspect
arrested and bailed earlier was reinterviewed by Leicestershire
Police in September this year, and has now been bailed to report to
police again in February.
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By GlobalDataThe deals appear to have been spread
fairly evenly among the leasing companies.
“The 10 with the biggest exposures all
lost £5 million to £6 million each,” said one adviser.
Serial numbers on the machines were
erased so lessors could not match them with equivalent numbers on
their lease documentation. As a consequence, there has been no
scope for individual lessors to mitigate their losses through
repossessions.
