London Capital & Finance [LCF] went into administration in January after the city watchdog froze its bank accounts. It collapsed owing £237million to more than 11,500 people.
In a progress report sent to creditors and seen by the Times, administrators say Mr Hume-Kendall is refusing to be interviewed, despite having agreed to do so.
The administrators are trying to get back the millions lost to investors who ploughed their life savings into LCF’s mini-bonds on the promise of returns of eight per cent.
In their report, Smith & Williamson told investors that Simon Hume-Kendall had indicated that he would attend an interview ‘voluntarily for the purpose of being interviewed under section 236 of the Insolvency Act 1986’.
However, they added: “Following our report being issued, Simon Hume-Kendall has declined to attend the interview and is now deemed, along with Spencer Golding, Andy Thompson and Elten Barker, to have failed to co-operate with the joint administrators.”
They said they ‘have a number of powers under the Insolvency Act’ to get these men to co-operate and ‘these powers are now being utilised’.
Following the collapse of LCF, administrators discovered millions of pounds invested by customers had ended up in the control of these four men in what they described as ‘highly suspicious’ transactions.
The Serious Fraud Office [SFO] arrested several men in relation to the collapse earlier this year.
Mr Hume-Kendall, who lives in a mews home in Tunbridge Wells, has repeatedly refused to comment on the LCF scandal but promised the Times when we visited his house earlier this year that it was his ‘intention is to pay all the money back’.
Spencer Golding, who lives in Crowborough, Elten Barker of Hadlow Down, and former LCF director Andy Thomson, who lives in a £2million barn conversion in East Sussex, have all refused to comment on the LCF collapse or their involvement in it.
To date administrators have only managed to claw back around £200,000 of investors’ money.
