A Tunbridge Wells-based group of businesses, which left investors facing losses of up to £30million, collectively received Covid loans of up to £2million, the BBC reported this week.
Joint Venture Investment in Property (JVIP) group’s clients had included the elderly and the vulnerable, to whom JVIP had promised a 10 per cent return on investment.
At the time of the Times’ last report on the matter (March 17, 2022), the group, which was run by Peter Dabner, incorporated a number of subsidiary businesses, including Hunni Homes in High Brooms, and was thought to have accrued debts of up to £60million, despite only holding assets worth £43million.
Although JVIP had told its investors it would use their money to purchase or develop properties, many of the associated businesses collapsed at the beginning of 2022 and are now in the hands of administrators. The collapse of JVIP resulted in investors losing six-figure sums.
Mr Dabner is also a director of more than 20 other UK companies listed on the register of businesses in the country, although many are listed as ‘inactive’ or ‘in administration’.
It is understood that creditors objected to a February 1, 2022 request by JVIP to get the business ‘struck off’ the register of limited companies in the UK, due to fears they would lose their investment.
According to documents in the BBC’s possession however, companies controlled by Peter Dabner – many of which have since collapsed – received more than 40 Covid Bounce Back Loans of about £50,000 each.
The Government’s Bounce Bank Loan Scheme (BBLS) was established in April 2020 to help keep small businesses afloat during the Covid pandemic. When it came to Bounce Back Loans, the maximum that could be borrowed was £50,000, or 25 per cent of company turnover.
Mr Dabner had not responded to previous attempts by the Times for comment, nor to the BBC.
