Dover Chamber Of Commerce Boss Cameron Macsween In Alleged Fraud Inquiry

Article published on 26th July 2010

Cameron Macsween, also the chamber's Director of Business Development, has had a complaint made against him involving a dispute over company shares. The complaint was originally made to police last July.

The investigation was closed when the matter was deemed suitable to be dealt with in civil courts as part of his divorce proceedings, but in May it was reopened by police.

A police spokesman said: "We are looking into allegations of alleged fraud. The investigation is ongoing."

No-one has been charged.

But Mr Macsween vehemently denies being under investigation, saying the allegation about company shares concerns other people and he is merely a witness.

He said: "I am not the subject of a fraud investigation.

"I have a letter from the police saying they have dropped the allegations. People can make allegations to the police but this is unfounded and incorrect."

He added: "There is certainly no direct connection in this in any way with my work with the Dover District Chamber of Commerce, which I do on a voluntary basis to support the regeneration of the area."

The Express has seen two letters sent to Mr Macsween by police. One, dated October 2009, said no further action would be taken concerning an accusation against him that he tried to fraudulently obtain a business loan. The second said no criminal prosecution would be pursued regarding a dispute over share allocation unless further evidence came to light.

However, police have confirmed the investigation into the shares allocation has been reopened and Mr Macsween is being investigated. A spokesman said: "The only person who is being investigated here by us at this particular time is Mr Macsween."

Mr Macsween has extensive business experience. He has been a director of six companies which have been dissolved or struck off in the past ten years.

Information from Companies House, the official government register of UK companies, shows one of the businesses became insolvent owing £680,880 to creditors and another was £268,686 in the red in the firm's last completed accounts.

Brooktour Limited, registered at Maybrook House, was set up in May 1997 and dissolved in March 2000. The insolvency statement from liquidators Andrew Andronikou and Ladislav Hornan says it folded owing £5,300 to preferential creditors, £464,203 to unsecured creditors and £211,377 to fixed charge creditors.

European Upgrades Limited was created in February 1999 and underwent compulsory liquidation in June 2006.

Digital Dream Co. Europe Ltd was set up in March 2000 and underwent compulsory liquidation in March 2007. Its last accounts show it as £268,686 in debt.

The 69-year-old was also a director of dissolved firms Digital Dream Co. Com Ltd, folded in September 2005, Brook Digital Ltd, dissolved in May 2007, Brook Digital Products Ltd, struck off in March 2007, and Lion Aid, set up in January 2004 and struck off in October 2006.

Mr Macsween says three companies were linked and were dissolved because the return of £1.2 million of stock from Tesco left him no choice.

He said: "The digital camera company was very successful for some time. The year we folded we did a lot of trading with Tesco. We should not have sold that much to Tesco but they were good payers at the time."

He also said a lot of effort has been made to repay creditors, particularly local ones.

The Scot, who moved to Dover from France in 1997, is listed as director of Freedom Input Limited, which trades in mobile phone accessories.

He is also the director of Where Finance, based in Salisbury Road and created in May 2004. Companies House lists the organisation as dormant. A proposal has been made for the firm to be struck off. Mr Macsween says the company was the idea of an investor but it never traded.

Other active businesses are Freedom Input UK Ltd, Lion Aid World Ltd and Drivers and Support. Com Ltd, which is listed as dormant.

A further Lion Aid firm is shown on Companies House as being set up in May 2009, although Lion Aid charity, according to the Charities Commission, has been running since 2004.

The charity shows Mr Macsween's former wife Christine is director.

Mr Macsween said: "Anybody who has not had a problem and always had a successful business will have less experience than one who has been there when it's hit the fan.

"I am not, and was not, looking to get into trouble commercially but having gone through it and the substantial challenges it put to us we worked very hard. We made sure people were paid back. We did not walk away.

"To put it bluntly, s

happens, it's how you deal with it that's important."