A company has been fined £20,000 after polluting a stream during land spreading at a North East farm.

Whites Recycling Ltd – based at Mill Lane in South Witham, Lincolnshire – appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 19 December where it pleaded guilty to breaching its environmental permit and polluting a tributary of the River Tees.

It was fined £20,000, and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge amounting to £4,430.

Prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, Sally Dennison told the court that the company has an environmental permit for mobile plant land spreading at Greystones Farm near Eppleby, west of Darlington.

Conditions of the land spreading deployment states the operation should comply with the ‘Code for Good Agricultural Practice’ which requires that weather conditions are assessed prior to spreading taking place, and also states ‘the activity will be carried out without harm to the environment’.

Stream ‘running black’

On 22 March 2017 a pollution incident was reported by a member of the public advising that a stream close to Greystones Farm was running black.

The following morning environment officers from the Environment Agency attended the farm and met with the farm manager. He confirmed that eight loads of digestate had been spread on the field the previous day. The field appeared to be waterlogged.

The officers investigated an unnamed tributary of the River Tees and saw that drainage outfalls from the field were discharging a black coloured liquid into the watercourse.

Whites Recycling arranged for a tanker to attend and remove the pools of digestate and rainwater that had accumulated on the field.

Rainfall data gathered by the Environment Agency showed around half of the average monthly rainfall for the area fell on 22 March 2017 and 23 March 2017 and the Met Office had also issued a severe weather warning for snow on the 22 March 2017 for the area.

Checks on the company’s Environment Management System showed there was no condition to check the weather forecast prior to spreading taking place, and the field record sheet had been incorrectly filled out. It stated the nearest watercourse was 150m away when the stream is only separated from the field by a main road.

The company said the incident had resulted from a systems failure and was not committed deliberately of recklessly, and that immediate action was taken to prevent further harm by removing further liquid from the field. The company’s Environment Management System has been reviewed and updated and it had also conducted training for all of its staff in the new procedures. The company apologised to the Environment Agency and the court for the breach and the resulting pollution.

Vital that companies abide by permit conditions

Environment Officers Louise Poole, from the Environment Agency’s Land and Water Team in the North East, led the investigation. She said:

Permits are in place to protect the environment and our communities while also supporting businesses in their activities.

Permits have strict conditions for a reason and it is vital companies abide by those conditions. In this case, land spreading during adverse weather led to a waterlogged field and a black discharge into a nearby river, impacting on the environment. The company has since updated its procedures and improved staff training.

Run off from land into our waters has a significant negative effect on the environment. The Environment Agency works hard to protect our environment and I hope this sends out a message to others that we take incidents such as this seriously and will take the necessary action against those flouting the conditions of their permit.

Four of the directors are based in Malaysia, including Kien Cheong Yew who has been disqualified for 12 years, while the remaining two live in The Wirral and Kilburn, North-West London, respectively.

The investigation conducted by the Insolvency Service centred on property development company Absolute Living Developments Limited.

The company sold apartments in England off-plan to investors who were largely based in Asia. It is estimated that Absolute Living Developments secured at least £12 million from people to invest in residential property schemes that were in various states of development.

Daniel Mark Harrison (38), from Kilburn North-West London, was the last of the directors to be disqualified and he was banned for 6 years through a court order on 28 November 2018.

During Daniel Harrison’s hearings, the court heard that Absolute Living Developments Limited was incorporated in November 2013, with registered offices in Liverpool. The company sought out investments to convert commercial buildings into residential properties.

The developments were located in in the North of England, predominately Bradford and Greater Manchester. However, people complained that having invested through Absolute Living Developments, the developments had not been fully completed and the apartments were unliveable.

Absolute Living Developments was wound-up by order of the courts in April 2016 following the presentation of a petition by Bradford Council due to unpaid rates and investigations that followed principally focused on 4 developments, 3 in Bradford and 1 in Manchester.

Investigators discovered various examples of misconduct by Absolute Living Developments facilitated by the directors.

The company provided misleading and incomplete information about the developments to investors, meaning people couldn’t carry out due diligence.

Absolute Living Developments had no ability to ensure the terms of contracts with investors could be met and failed to provide adequate safeguards for money obtained from investors.

For one of the developments, Absolute Living Developments requested completion payments from investors despite the development not being completed.

And the company signed charges over Absolute Living Developments’ assets, which meant that a third party owns them and there are no remaining assets in the liquidation to pay creditors.

An independent insolvency practitioner has been appointed in this case to investigate recovery of assets for the benefit of creditors. The liquidator’s actions are ongoing and to date they have received claims from creditors in excess of £68 million.

Ken Beasley, Official Receiver for the Insolvency Service said:

This was a complex investigation, considering the amount of money that was invested, not all of the directors were based in the UK and we worked with several other authorities.

We want to draw attention to these rogue directors so we can alert people about the risks involved when investing, while also warning that we will investigate and tackle those that set out to deliberately rip people off by misrepresenting the investment opportunity on offer.

Company details

Absolute Living Developments Limited (Company number: 08766275) was incorporated on 07 November 2013.

The former registered office was located at Horton House, 6th Floor Exchange Flags, Liverpool L2 3PF

Total liabilities are estimated to amount to £68,842,400

Disqualified directors

Kien Cheong Yew (40) from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Disqualified from 29 January 2018 to 28 January 2030 (12 years) as a result of an undertaking.

Ameerali Bin Abas (39) from Selangor, Malaysia. Disqualified from 27 June 2018 to 26 June 2027 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.

Andrea Nicole Pacquiao Pieter (30) from Selangor, Malaysia. Disqualified from 20 March 2018 to 19 March 2027 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.

Adrianne Mei Kwan Nyau (40) from The Wirral. Disqualified from 14 December 2017 to 13 December 2026 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.

Chi Yeun Leong (68) from Bangsar, Malaysia. Disqualified from 21 December 2017 to 20 December 2026 (9 years) as a result of an undertaking.

Daniel Mark Harrison (38) from Kilburn North-West London. Disqualified from 28 November 2018 to 27 November 2024 (6 years) as a result of a court order.

About disqualifications

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7637 6498

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Six directors have been banned for a total of 54 years after they misled more than 300 people to invest £12 million into residential property developments.

The Insolvency Enquiry Line and Redundancy Payments Helpline will be offering a reduced service from 24 to 31 December inclusive. During this period our opening times will be 9am to – 2.30pm.

Our Redundancy Payments Helpline operates from Edinburgh and will be closed on 2 January 2019, as this is a Scottish Bank Holiday.

Published 24 December 2018

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