London Ashford Airport (Lydd), the British Virgin Islands and a bit of Philanthropy

Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Saleh Al Athel (pictured) is according to ArabianBusiness.com the ninth most powerful Saudi in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Sheikh’s FAL Group is an international conglemerate of over 85 companies spanning over 17 countries and employs more than 4000 people.  He is Chairman & CEO  of FAL Holdings Ltd and  Chairman of the Board of London Ashford Airport and Lydd Air, London.

On the 12th January 2001 a company called hillgate-214-ltd came to life. On the 2nd May 2001, lydd-airport-group-ltd, sold their company for £,3,430,077 to Hillgate (214) Ltd. Included in the sale was land and they sold deed title numbers K434821, K537593 and K561277. On the 30th May 2001, Hillgate (214) Ltd, which is to be renamed London Ashford Airport Ltd received £9,999,000 in nominal-capital. On the same day Hillgate (214) Ltd to be renamed as London Ashford Airport Ltd received nearly four million shares from lydd-holdings-ltd.Then finally on the 3oth May 2001 Hillgate (214) Ltd became london-ashford-airport-ltd as the sole member Lydd Holdings Ltd resolved to change the name on the 30th May 2001 and was registered with companies house on the 31st May 2001.

On the 29th Jan 2003 the 1st-set-of-accounts London Ashford Airport Ltd was under the the control of Lydd Holdings Ltd

On the 22nd Dec 2003 Lydd Golf Club & Driving Range Ltd sold their 641,100 shares to lydd-holdings-ltd. How much the sellers received is not know. So Lydd Holdings Ltd now own the Airport & the Golf Club. The directors of Lydd Holdings Ltd were Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Saleh Al Athel and Sheikh Badar Fahed Mohammed Al Athel and the company secrectary was Zahil Nicola Jeries Deir (pictured). Lydd Holdings address was given as  Geneva Place; Waterfront Drive; PO Box 3469; Road Town; Tortola. British Virgin Islands

The address given by Lydd Holdings in their Annual Return in 2004 appears in the Panama Papers. The British Virgin Islands is widely seen as a centre of financial secrecy and is a low tax jurisdiction. The addresses given by  Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Saleh Al Athel and Sheikh Badar Fahed Mohammed Al Athel on the annual return, also appear in the Panama Papers. Lydd Holdings Ulitimate Parent Company is fal-holdings-ltd , a company registered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

As we said earlier one of the Directors of Lydd Holdings Ltd was Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Saleh Al Athel and the company Secretary was Mr. Zahil Nicola Jeries Deir. Between 2003 and 2009 all is fine. Then sometime after that they fall out and appeared in the High  Court. Mr Deir made a claim in open court that SDC Cllrs had received ‘gifts‘ via one or more of the companies credit cards, and he has never as far as we know been charged with perjury.

Justice Foskett presided over the case and stated in his judgement:

“Some of the items sought to be challenged are items Mr Deir said constituted ‘gifts’ to Councillors“, Justice Foskett goes onto say, “The position is taken on behalf of the Sheikh that any such expenditure would be wholly wrong and contrary to the the interests of the company. I am bound to say that I think that the position taken is a little too spotless in its connotation to be accepted.“

What possible inference can you draw from that?

The Information in the Panama Papers about  Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Saleh Al Athel does not link him to Lydd Holdings Ltd. This is new information brought to light by our investigation.

However, the Sheikh does appear in Panama Papers, the link is though through Leila Capital Ltd.

The Sheikh is a philanthropist, as parts of the profit of Fal Holdings Ltd are put to good use in the area of ‘education’, and this is where you come in dear reader, as Fal Holdings.com on its Corporate Social Responsibility page states:

“The wealth that accrues from FAL groups business activities supports an assortment of causes, institutions and individuals in a wide variety of areas especially in Support of higher studies:

This was the sentiment that led the Chairman to develop a dedicated budget to this effort. The scheme helped bright students to become Administrators, Scientists, Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers, funding their education through loans and grants.”

Now we don’t know if the ‘loans or grants’ are available to your children who need support in their ‘higher studies’. There are no doubt lots of ‘bright students’ across Walland & Denge Marsh and beyond. So why not ask the Sheikh for a loan or grant for your child in ‘higher studies’, that way, we can at least bring offshore money onshore again, and in doing so possibly help your ‘bright student’. You can do so, via their contact page.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If you do apply please do let us know how you get on.

There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in this blog post have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.

Shepwayvox