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 . . .
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.
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