At first look, there may be nothing exceptional about Gofer Mining plc. It seems to be simply one other multibillion-pound company big, with London headquarters in Canary Wharf and pursuits stretching from Tibet to Ukraine.
Its prolonged monetary accounts are stuffed with prosaic particulars about mineral weights, uncommon metallic property and exploration plans.
But the apparently innocuous multinational is in no way what it appears. In reality, it’s linked to each a weird undertaking to invent a brand new nation, in addition to a really actual try to seize management of a Ukrainian goldmine.
The case is now being held up as a first-rate instance of how lax guidelines at Corporations Home, the UK’s official register of corporations, are creating alternatives for potential fraud each within the UK and around the globe.
On nearer inspection, Gofer Mining has not filed accounts for a number of years. One in all its administrators is listed because the “Duke of Commonwealth”. With a bit extra digging, issues take a additional stunning flip. That very same director additionally seems to have declared his personal nation.
The Union State of British Commonwealth, an obvious assortment of residents from international locations together with Britain, China and Russia, claims to have already issued 10m passports.
Like many jurisdictions, it comes with its personal central financial institution and supreme court docket. A collection of UK MPs and friends are listed amongst its associates, in accordance with its web site. It has its personal forex – the Commonwealth pound – and its chief, His Highness the Duke of Commonwealth, is claimed to have descended from the Greek royal household, in addition to a Russian prince, and personally gave about £292bn in property to the general public.
The Union State could be written off because the curious on-line fantasy of its eccentric founder, recognized by a number of names, together with Michail Roerich.
Nonetheless, an in depth evaluation of accounts filed at Corporations Home regarding Gofer Mining, for which he’s registered as a director and chief monetary officer, suggests one thing extra troubling – specifically, proof these accounts have been falsified.
Extra regarding nonetheless is the revelation that Gofer Mining was concerned in a prolonged try to seize management of a Ukrainian goldmine, finally blocked by the Ukrainian courts in 2020.
These behind the try even managed to position an advert within the Occasions, falsely stating that that Gofer Mining had been fashioned by Barclays financial institution and would make investments £250m within the mine.
The Observer has realized that in 2019 the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce contacted Corporations Home to warn it about Gofer Mining’s actions in Ukraine. “Those behind this improper takeover are using Gofer’s Companies House listing online,” it wrote.
Campaigners say that the sprawling case highlights how weak checks and an absence of enforcement are permitting suspicious administrators and corporations to sit down undetected for years on the books at Corporations Home. They examine the UK’s corporations register to a “wild west” that makes life simpler for potential fraudsters.
“Gofer Mining’s accounts are on another level,” stated Dan Neidle, the previous senior tax lawyer and founding father of the Tax Coverage Associates thinktank, who has been investigating the extent of faux corporations and falsified accounts lodged at Corporations Home.
“There’s nothing in the accounts which is definitely an alarm bell, until you get to the auditor. Someone has faked an audit.”
Neidle found that Gofer Mining’s most up-to-date accounts had been audited by an organization referred to as Smith Barclay LLP – a agency that hyperlinks again to Roerich himself. No hint could be discovered of the named auditor, James Whitelaw.
In the meantime, there isn’t a proof of Gofer Mining’s 4,000 alleged staff. Its Canary Wharf deal with can also be false. But regardless of all this and its involvement within the Ukrainian goldmine case, Gofer Mining stays a stay firm.
It has not been struck off, regardless of being an allegedly giant multinational whose final filed accounts coated 2019.
In reality, Gofer Mining was discovered to be related to a fancy community of present, dormant or defunct corporations that collectively declare to have billions sitting on their stability sheets or tied up in shares.
One other such enterprise was the now defunct British Expertise Financial institution, which falsely claimed to have been part-owned by the Financial institution of England.
In 2023, the Monetary Conduct Authority issued a warning that it could be offering monetary companies or merchandise with out its authorisation and was concentrating on individuals within the UK.
Roerich, one in every of a number of Gofer Mining administrators, stated he owned “less than 1%” of the corporate and disputed that its accounts had been falsified.
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When contacted by the Observer, he acknowledged he and his associates had been “the victims, not the attackers” and had lodged a authorized motion on the European court docket of human rights.
“You are correct that Gofer hasn’t and never had any tangible footprint in the UK, but you are incorrect that it has no footprint elsewhere,” he stated. “It is a company with assets hijacked by criminals.”
To help his case, he offered paperwork from a physique referred to as the “British Office for Ukraine”, which claims to be an “independent nonministerial government department”. Nonetheless, it’s understood that there isn’t a British Workplace for Ukraine with actual hyperlinks to the UK authorities.
Labour peer Charlie Falconer, who’s listed as chair of one in every of its committees, had by no means heard of it and had no affiliation to it.
Requested if he accepted that Gofer Mining’s purported auditor Whitelaw shouldn’t be, and by no means had been an authorised chartered accountant, Roerich stated: “Yes, I accept, as far as I know.”
He stated that Gofer Mining’s alleged auditor, Smith Barclay LLP, was now dissolved and that he had “never signed any documents as an accountant and/or auditor”.
The aim of making the Union State of British Commonwealth and its related central financial institution and supreme court docket stays unclear.
A number of former and sitting parliamentarians are listed on its web site as being amongst its “people”. One in all them is former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. He confirmed he had “zero knowledge” of it and could be informing “the authorities and my lawyers”.
Neidle stated there was a necessity for correct enforcement of firm legislation, particularly across the obvious ease with which false info may very well be lodged at Corporations Home.
“The fact that we are such a business centre makes us an obvious target for fraudsters,” he stated. “The fact that Companies House is so open and works so well makes it a juicy target – and the lack of controls makes it a juicier target still.
“There needs to be some serious thinking around how to give reassurance that, when you see audited accounts on Companies House, the auditor exists and has a licence. Right now, it’s a wild west – and it doesn’t have a sheriff.”
Corporations Home stated it took allegations of fraud towards the register significantly and that “all allegations are fully investigated”. They stated the physique was already utilizing new powers that got here into drive final 12 months to “crack down on the misuse of the register by querying information provided by companies”.
“Where incorrect, suspicious, or fraudulent filings are made, we will take appropriate action,” they stated. “We proactively share information with other relevant government agencies and law enforcement.
We are developing systems and processes to enable more checks to determine the accuracy of information delivered to us before it is placed on the register.
“We will introduce compulsory identity verification checks for new and existing directors (and equivalents), people with significant control, as well as those filing information with Companies House.
“This will provide greater assurance regarding who is setting up, running, owning and controlling companies in the UK and make creation of anonymous corporate structures that facilitate crime, corruption and fraud far more challenging.”
