The Bacon Stakes – Part One

In a recent article called “Is Hartbeespoort the Kevin Bacon of global money laundering?” I pointed out the very high number of individuals living in this small town on the outskirts of Pretoria, who were acting as legal officers for an enormous number of UK entities along with those from many other jurisdictions.

I thought I’d follow that up with a sequence of “vignettes” looking at individual UK companies for which some of these people have previously, or are still, acting.

Of course, it is fairly easy to read my first article as something of an oddity but of no great import, so I wanted this first follow-up article to address that potential accusation square on.

Many of you will have read about the murder of Ján Kuciak and his partner Martina Kušnírová. I wonder how many people also know that UK shell companies were central to the story Ján was working on when he was murdered.

In particular, one company called Commercial Development Investment Ltd appears regularly in his reporting. Let’s take a closer look.

The company is still active, having filed its latest accounts (showing net capital and reserves of £3,554) on 15 July 2021. It was incorporated back in 2001 (although it was then called Z-Conect Limited). It changed to its current name in 2007 and the filings from that time indicate that the company shares were in the form of bearer certificates and the sole director was an attorney based in Dominica.

Clearly, some quite substantial changes to the company’s economic activity occurred between 2006 and 2007, given that the accounts for 2006 show gross assets of just £3,104 compared to 2007’s £1,248,842.

Sadly, the business doesn’t seem to have been very profitable, as the net shareholder’s funds (after allowing for amounts due to creditors) barely increased from the £1,991 shown in 2006 to just £4,461 in 2007. 2008 saw little change to the company’s financial position, nor the immediately following years.

In 2011, a second director was appointed, Jana Slachtova, who has since been linked to the Kuciak case, see: https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20940249/controversial-businessman-kocner-charged-in-five-star-residence-case.html. The CDI mentioned in the article, presumably refers to Commercial Development Investments Ltd.

And then, in 2013, Mr Isidore, the Dominican attorney, resigned in favour of Lunedi-Lidia Jordaan, the first appearance of a Hartbeesport resident in this case (but not the last).

Sadly, the shares are still being identified as “bearer” so I can tell you nothing more, at this stage, regarding ownership. And the annual accounts are still showing net shareholder funds hovering just below £5,000 so whatever may (or may not) have been happening in the Czech Republic, wasn’t being reflected here in the UK.

And then in 2015, following a burst of activity, the company moved to 10 Great Russell Street, although rather than Suite 351 or 602 (both of which have featured in recent articles) this time it was Suite 4005, closely followed by a move to Suite 3028. And when I say “closely followed” I actually mean “the following day”.

The day of the move from Suite 4005 to 3028 was also accompanied by the resignation of Ms Jordaan, to be replaced by Monica Pamela Van Zyl, who also featured in my original article and who also lives in Hartbeespoort. The route from Ms Jordaan’s house to Ms Van Zyl’s takes you past Kleinste Street (home of Arthus Grice) and, a bit further down the road, Die Ou Wapad, declared address, at one time or another, of Brenda Cocksedge, Christina Cornelia Van Den Berg, Martiena Louisa Pietersen, Mirlene Helen Lorain Taljaard (we never got round to her in the original article) and Willem Marthinus De Beer.

And in further good news, the bearer shares were transferred to a real person, called Frazer Scott Kennedy. However, despite this assertion, the company has also declared its belief that it has no Person with Significant Control.