A former high flyer in the Tech boom days - I bought back in at an average around 30p after it was obvious they had more cash than cap - took a few profits in the fifties but held most for a cash back deal but one day found them suspended with the cash missing .... a few peeps over on the dark side had a good laugh but I like the last laugh and maybe that's not far away ....


ains





Orb poised to strike deal with Izodia over 33m
By Simon Goodley (Filed: 22/02/2003) Telegraph


Izodia and Orb Estates, the two companies at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into 33m of missing cash, are understood to be on the verge of agreeing a settlement.

The deal, which is thought to have been provisionally agreed by both parties, has been struck just as Orb was to be ordered by a Jersey court to reveal the whereabouts of the missing funds, which disappeared from Izodia's account last year. A hearing had been provisionally scheduled for yesterday.

Orb is thought to have agreed to repay the missing cash, plus costs and interest, although timescales are not clear. Sources speculated last night that the deal could lead Orb into a sale of the 37 hotels it bought from Thistle Hotels for 600m last March.

Despite the deal, the SFO's investigation - which is separate from the Jersey hearing - continues. Its officers raided Orb's premises in December after receiving "an allegation of unlawful appropriation of funds" belonging to Izodia.

Orb is the largest shareholder in Izodia, a former software company which has been reduced to a cash shell. Izodia's only two directors during the period being investigated were Jarlath Vahey and Peter Catto, both of whom have ties to Orb.

Orb denies any wrongdoing.

Izodia admitted last month that most of its remaining 33m cash pile is no longer under its control. The exact whereabouts of the funds is still unknown, although the majority of the money - thought to be around 27m - was transferred to associate companies of Orb.

Both companies declined to comment last night.

Any sale of the hotels acquired by Orb from Thistle would add to the activity in a sector which is already at the centre of consolidation and merger speculation.

Coincidentally Singapore investment group BIL International yesterday said it might make an offer for the 54pc of Thistle Hotels it does not already own.

BIL, controlled by Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, said it was considering paying a modest premium to Thistle's closing share price of 98.5p on Wednesday.

Thistle shares closed up 7.5 at 107.5p.

Ruhan linked to Orb's Thistle portfolio

JOHN BOWKER The Scotsman


ORB Estates, the secretive Jersey-based property company, is believed to have sold off its Thistle Hotels portfolio to a little-known Birmingham-based entrepreneur.

The deal, thought to be worth about 700 million for 32 hotels, will end months of speculation over one of the embattled Orbs most prized assets. The company has been rocked in recent months by spiralling debts and an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

The hotels are reportedly being bought by Andy Ruhan, who made his fortune in the property and telecoms sectors. The businessman has beaten off several better known names for the portfolio, including Newcastle tycoon Allan Rankin, who reportedly offered about 900m for 37 properties earlier this year.

Ruhan is understood to be inheriting 531m of debt, and will put up an extra 123m in cash. The deal also includes a 70m bridging loan provided by Morgan Stanley, on which Orb had defaulted.

The deal will raise the hopes of shareholders at decimated dotcom firm Izodia, who have seen 33m of their cash mysteriously disappear into an account belonging to Orb.

Ruhan is believed to be replacing the missing cash, which prompted the Serious Fraud Office inquiry as well as the threat of legal action from Izodia shareholders. The sum can be redeemed in two years time.

Orb has recently put a number of assets up for sale, including Seafield Logistics and Poole Pottery, as the firm strives to raise cash and cut debts.

The future of Thistle Hotels is unclear, although Ruhan is said to be continuing with plans to convert three of the properties into luxury flats.

In March the group rejected a 540m takeover approach from major shareholder BIL Investments. The suitor failed to secure the required 94.6 per cent of shareholder backing, after Thistle directors urged shareholders that the offer was too low.

Thistle Hotels operates 55 properties in total, most of them four star hotels. .

Ruhan is chairman of internet network provider PSINET Euroipe. He made his fortune with Global Switch, the property company specialising in buildings that house telecoms equipment.

11 September 2006 2 pages

Izodia plc: Gerald Smith sentenced
Gerald Smith was sentenced today at Cambridge Crown Court to eight years' imprisonment for misappropriating over 34 million belonging to Izodia plc and to false accounting. He has also been disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years. He had pleaded guilty in April this year. Costs and confiscation have been put over to a date later this year to be confirmed

Izodia was a company trading in computer software, a 'dot-com' company. When the dot-com bubble burst, Izodia did little trading but became a cash shell. In 2002 Dr Gerald Smith (dob 21.05.55) through his Jersey-based property business, the Orb Group, acquired a substantial stake in Izodia and was able to exert control, which resulted in the movement of Izodia's cash asset from the Reading Branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland to Jersey from where it was stolen by Smith.

Following a complaint made by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Serious Fraud Office, together with the Thames Valley Police, commenced an investigation in December 2002 into suspected fraud surrounding the missing funds. Dr Smith was charged in February 2005. Proceedings were also commenced against two other defendants, Jarlath Vahey and Peter Catto, ex-directors of Izodia. All charges relate to events in 2002.

On 24 April 2006 the trial of Smith and Vahey opened at Blackfriars Crown Court (Catto was severed from that trial because of ill health). Dr Smith pleaded guilty to ten counts of theft contrary to section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968 and to one count of false accounting contrary to section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. The amounts stolen represent over 34 million. Two counts of conspiracy to defraud contrary to Common Law and one count of using a false instrument contrary to section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 were not proceeded with.

Following the plea entered by Smith, the SFO decided not to continue with the prosecution of Vahey and on 24 April 2006 the charges against him (two counts of conspiracy to defraud) were left on the file. With regard to Catto, the SFO informed the court today that charges against him were also to lie on the file.

Sentencing and confiscation
The sentences of imprisonment handed down today to Gerald Smith are (a) four year on three of the theft counts to run concurrently to each other and (b)four years on each of the remaining seven theft counts and the false accounting count also to run concurrently to each other. The two sets of four-year concurrent sentences are to be consecutive, i.e. the term of imprisonment represents eight years.

The defendant was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years.

The SFO has pursued restraint and confiscation of assets and today the judge set the confiscation hearing for a date in November but to be confirmed.

END