Six men, who misled over 300 investors in a landbanking scam, have been disqualified for a combined 74 years by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovations and Skills from either acting as a director or in any way managing or controlling a company.

An investigation by the Official Receiver revealed via three companies that sourced and supplied the land and at least two companies which acted as the sales agents, the six men sold land to investors for over £13m.

The two sales agents sold the land to members of the public for investment purposes using misleading marketing materials, with customers led to believe the land would obtain planning permission and increase in value in the future, however this was not the case and there was no likelihood of this happening.

Matthew Stone, a Senior Examiner in the Official Receiver’s Public Interest Unit at the Insolvency Service, said: “All of the land banking companies that the Official Receiver has dealt with, have brought misery and in some instances, tragedy, to unsuspecting members of the public, who were persuaded to part with their savings in exchange for virtually worthless plots of land.

“In over 7 years of investigating land banking scams, I have not seen a single piece of land that has been sold actually go on to obtain planning permission. Every single customer has lost their money in what was a horrendous investment. Whilst land can obviously be a secure investment, the way in which these companies sell it ultimately means there is no viable exit strategy for their so-called investment.

“In these cases, the Insolvency Service took action not only against the sales agents, which spend a small fortune in attempting to come across as legitimate City based “commodity” brokers, but also their suppliers who caused the sales agents to market and sell the land for investment purposes.”

Customers had purchased the plots of greenbelt land from the sales agents for anything between £7.5k and £20k per plot. The investigation revealed that the supply companies had purchased the same land for at little as £180 per plot.

The investigation discovered that the land suppliers, MRT Land Holdings Ltd, run by Mark John Tull, its successor Boldacre Ltd and another company which actually purchased a piece of land, Raincode Ltd, were run by Mark John Tull and Carl Anthony Ballard. These companies sourced and supplied the land for onward sale by sales agents which were provided with the marketing material, including ‘white label’ brochures where the sales agents would simply insert their own name and logo.

Michael Rodney Tull, the father of Mark Tull, was appointed as a director of MRT Land Holdings Ltd but took no active part in the running of the company but was still disqualified for 7 years for his failure to carry out his responsibilities as a director.

The sales agents, including Dakota Partners International Ltd and its successor, Dakota Partners International CC Ltd, whose registered directors were Christopher Farhat Gill and Imran Rasool, received over £1.2m from its customers. In these companies, Imran Rasool took no active part in the running of the company but was also disqualified for 11 years.

Another sales agent, Century Property Group Ltd (formerly known as Century Land Group Ltd, whose registered director was Stephen John Wheeler, of Bridgwater Somerset, was run from an impressive office on the 36th floor of one of London’s well known skyscrapers, and received over £12m from unsuspecting customers.

The six men’s details and disqualifications are as follows:

• Carl Anthony Ballard – director of Boldacre Limited and Raincode Limited disqualified for 14 years until 21 July 2028.
• Mark John Tull – director of MRT Land Holdings Limited and Boldacre Limited, was disqualified for 14 years until 7 July 2028.
• Michael Rodney Tull – director of MRT Land Holdings Limited – was disqualified for 7 years until 19 June 2021.
• Stephen John Wheeler – director of Century Property Group Limited – was disqualified for 14 years until 1 July 2028.
• Christopher Farhat Gill - director of Dakota Partners International CC Limited – was disqualified for 14 years until 25 March 2028.
• Imran Rasool - director of Dakota Partners International Limited and Dakota Partners International CC Limited – was disqualified for 11 years until 10 March 2025.