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'Phoenix' flies to court
Page 7
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• by Dominic Perry The boss of eight 'phoenix' freight forwarding firms is alleged to have defrauded hauliers out of tens of thousands of pounds over a period of five years, a court heard this week.
Blackfriars Crown Court was told that the UK arm of French haulage giant Giraud was one of several hauliers and freight forwarders taken in by Jeffrey Lewis, who traded from a number of different addresses across the South-East.
Lewis is charged with conspiracy to defraud between 1993 and 1998—he denies the charges.
Danny Morand, managing director of Giraud UK, told Judge Alan Hitching how Lewis, trading as Great Freight and Ell Freight, ran up debts of almost £45,000 with Giraud in late 1995 and early 1996, Morand admitted that no credit checks had been carried out by Giraud on either Great Freight or EU Freight; he blamed the pressure to get return loads to France: 'When someone contacts you with a lot of business you tend not to ask too many questions and take things on trust so you can start work as soon as possible."
Lewis made continual promises of payment, Morand added: "He always told us that the cheque was in the post but nothing ever turned up."
The court also heard from another freight forwarder. Venture International Group, which described its dealings with another of Lewis' firms, Bell Freight. Venture managing director Andrew Bonner told the court that Lewis had persistently refused to pay, denying that he had received the OMR certificates specified in the contract as proof of delivery. Even when the original certificates were provided, Lewis continued to refuse payment, said Bonner; shortly afterwards Bell Freight went into liquidation.
Lewis operated under a variety of names including; Meridian Logistics; Great Freight; EU Freight; Internet Freight; Bell Freight; Bell Freight Transport; Ilford Freight Services and Federation Freight. The trial is expected to last several weeks, as Lewis denies the charges.