View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
August 28, 2007

Our missing money scoop was priceless

By Press Gazette

During a Friday night curry in Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Ted Jeory was approached by the restaurant owner, who had recognised him as a journalist. He told Jeory of local people’s money being lost during transfer to their homes in Bangladesh. He said agents of First Solution Money Transfer had promised that the wages, which had been sent home for migrants’ children, would arrive within five days. Six weeks later, nothing had arrived.

That weekend, Jeory met local MP George Galloway’s assistant and was introduced to people who said they were afraid they had lost thousands. They showed contracts and remittance advices they had signed months ago.

‘I went to one of First Solution’s competitors in Brick Lane, pretending to be a potential customer. They told me they banked at least £50,000 a day, but that FS was way bigger,’said Jeory. ‘This was no tinpot business. I tracked down one of the directors and he told me he’d resigned as a director of FS ‘a couple of weeks ago’and that he knew nothing of the problems.

‘I later asked Companies House to send me a copy of his director resignation form. They only received the resignation by fax after my call to him, but it had been backdated.”

Jeory spoke to the lawyer of one of the company directors about what he knew. The lawyer ‘very carefully’told him that the company was ‘viable’but that it had been having ‘cash flow problems’because some of the agents in FS’s 40-strong network had not been passing on deposits.

‘I asked him why it was still accepting customers’ deposits without warning. Wasn’t that illegal trading? He gulped and said he was not aware that it was taking place. That’s when the alarm bells started ringing. I raced down to Brick Lane and got the restaurant owner to arrange a transaction with FS right then, so I’d have proof of possible illegal trading.

‘One of his workers handed over £100 to FS, came out and gave me the receipt, told me there had been no warning of any risks.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

‘I then went straight into the FS office and said I was a journalist and I was aware they’d just made a transaction despite the company having problems. They told me they’d had no instructions or warnings from head office to do otherwise.”

As Jeory was debating how to run the story, the FS lawyer called to tell him an order had been put out to all agents to cease trading immediately.

‘We’d hit the jackpot. We changed our splash, but decided to hold fire on the fine detail for a special report the following week, including the heartbreaking tale of one man who had remortgaged his home and sent £70,000 back to Bangladesh to build a new house, ready for his return. He’s now suffering a nervous breakdown.

‘The British Bangladeshi community is furious. Locals are also demanding to know why a ‘dodgy’ company was allowed to set up its headquarters at the London Muslim Centre.”

Since it broke the story, the Advertiser has run a major story on the scandal every week for six weeks.

The Government and the police have started a fraud investigation, and a rescue package, similar to that set up to help the victims of Christmas hamper firm Farepak, has been launched to help creditors. The Central Bank of Bangladesh has also called for a fraud probe.

It turned out that FS had grown from nothing to a company with a turnover of £87m in less than three years. Inter-company loans that it made to sister companies remain unexplained.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network