Quarry future 'very optimistic'

The new owners of four fraud-hit slate quarries in Gwynedd say they are "very confident and very optimistic" about the future of the business.

Rigcycle bought the former Alfred McAlpine Welsh Slate businesses for £31m on 24 December last year.

The 220 workers at Bethesda, Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Nantlle Valley have been told their jobs are safe.

McAlpine had uncovered what it described as "clear and systematic fraud" in the business in 2007.

Managing director of the Gwynedd quarries, Alan Smith, said the company was temporarily trading as Rigcycle, but the name would soon be changed to Welsh Slate.

'Good news'

"I'm very optimistic for the future and delighted with how the workforce has knuckled down and worked over the past months.

"Fundamentally this is a good business and I expect that there will be a profit in 2008," he added.

***** McNaught, the Transport and General workers union official in Gwynedd welcomed the news that everybody currently employed was being kept on under the same terms and conditions by the new company.

"It is good news as it secures the business for the area," he said.

Court proceedings are being brought against three former directors of the Welsh Slate company in Gwynedd.

Former managing director Christopher Law, 43, ex-sales director Paul Harvey, 51, and ex-operations director Geraint Roberts, 57, are accused of falsifying sales figures.

Mr Law is also charged with forgery and a separate fraud.

The three are on conditional bail and will appear before Caernarfon magistrates on 12 November.

The charges were brought after a joint investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and North Wales Police.

Alfred McAlpine plc - which owned Welsh Slate at the time - reported to the stock market on 26 February 2007 findings by its internal audit team.

Welsh Slate was sold in December 2007 to Rigcycle, and continues to trade at Penrhyn Quarry near Bangor under new management.

Alfred McAlpine plc merged with Carillion plc in February.

Two slate directors admit fraud

Two former directors of Alfred McAlpine Slate Ltd, known as Welsh slate, have admitted charges of fraudulent trading. Former managing director Christopher Law, 52, and ex-operations director Geraint Roberts, 57, admitted falsifying sales figures.

Mold Crown Court heard that both misled Alfred McAlpine plc about the amount of sales achieved by Welsh Slate. A third man, ex-sales director Paul Harvey, 52, denies the charge and his case has been adjourned.

The judge heard that between January 2004 and February 2008, as well as sales already received, Law and Roberts misled Alfred McAlpine plc about the value of potential future sales to the total of £5m.

North Wales Police and the Serious Fraud Office carried out a joint investigation into the case. Financial investigations under the Proceeds of Crime Act will now take place in the case of Law, from Llanberis, and Roberts from Betws-yn-Rhos.

The court heard there was no suggestion that the crime was carried out for personal gain, but rather to create the illusion that sales targets had been met from their Gwynedd quarries. All three men have been given bail.

Welsh Slate was sold in December 2007 to Rigcycle, and continues to trade at Penrhyn Quarry near Bangor under new management. Alfred McAlpine plc merged with Carillion plc in February.

From the BBC news site in the last few days:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7174804.stm 

***** McNaught, the Transport and General workers union official in Gwynedd welcomed the news that everybody currently employed was being kept on under the same terms and conditions by the new company.

From the BBC news site in the last few days:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7174804.stm 

***** McNaught, the Transport and General workers union official in Gwynedd welcomed the news that everybody currently employed was being kept on under the same terms and conditions by the new company.

:offtopic: Why has the naughty word finder blacked out Paddy?

Am I allow to say Scunthorpe?

A third man has pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in a case involving former bosses of Alfred McAlpine Slate Ltd - known as Welsh Slate.

At Caernarfon Crown Court former sales director Paul Michael Harvey, 52, of Blexley in Kent, admitted the offence between January 2004 and February 2007.

Three former executives of a slate firm in north Wales have been sent to prison for overstating production and sales figures up to £15m.

Christopher Law, Geraint Roberts and Paul Harvey, admitted fraudulent trading at Bethesda's Welsh Slate - formerly Alfred McAlpine plc.

The Serious Fraud Office said that 44% of the firm's reported debtors were fiction.

Law was jailed for 30 months, Roberts got 16 months and Harvey will serve 10.

An example of the deception included showing auditors a stockpile of crates of roofing slate; the outer crates full but the inner crates empty.

Customer letters were created to give the impression that debtors' payments were in the pipeline, delivery notes and transportation invoices for non-existent consignments were forged.

The Serious Fraud Office acknowledged that the purpose of the fraud was not to directly enrich the defendants but to convey to the main board of McAlpine that it was more successful than it was.

Following the case, historian and archaeologist Dr David Gwyn said the slate industry was costly with lots of competition.

"You could argue that the slate industry of Wales is the barometer of the building industry," he said.

"You could argue that the building industry is the barometer of the economy, and how much money there is in the economy is reflected in the amount of new build.

"So it is quite clear that the slate industry is faced with a very difficult period," he added.

Their behaviour was and remains, deeply offensive...
very, very deeply offensive...

Three former slate managers of Alfred McAlpine slate quarries in Gwynedd have been ordered to pay almost £250,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Christopher Law, 54, Geraint Roberts, 58, and Paul Harvey, 52, were all jailed for their part in a £10m fraud by inflating sales figures.