Queens House, Folkestone another offshore property

Queens House (pictured below)  Folkestone is another property in our glorious district owned offshore. The owners, who we’ll come onto shortly, wish to turn the upper floors into 24 self contained apartments, 8 per floor, this will mean seeking planning permission for change of use. 

The Folkestone & Hythe Express (12th Sept) in their report on page 3 state that the “London developer”  is “Meteor Investment Sarl’s “. That is incorrect and there is NO such company. The paper and the reporter are all too often making to many misleading and inaccurate statements and representing them as fact, when in fact they are “disinformation”/fake news. The owners are clearly written on the Planning Application for change of use from B1(a) (Office to C3 (Dwelling)

This property, the former home of Kent County Council’s Social Services was bought by CEPF II Meteor Investments S.A.R.L (incorporated in Luxembourg an offshore tax haven) of 14 Rue Edward Steichen, L-2540, Luxembourg, Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg, for £2 million on the 27 January 2017 according to the land registry.

CEPF II Meteor Investments S.à r.l. was formed on 10 November 2016 as a Société à responsabilité limitée according to the Luxembourg equivalent of companies house. The objects of the Company are: to act as an investment holding company. These are the guys and girl who manage or have managed the company.

MANAGERS                                                     Elected           Resigned             
F de Clermont-Tonnerre, Manager A – 10 Nov 2016
Jonathan Petit, Manager B                      10 Nov 2016
Bérénice Kunnari, Manager B                14 Aug 2017
Wilhemus Jongman, Manager A            26 Sep 2017
Lucinda Clifton-Bryant, Manager A      10 Nov 2016  – 16 Jun 2017
Nandkumar Dyhangee , Manager B      10 Nov 2016   – 14 Aug 2017
Neil Synnott, Manager A                           16 Jun 2017   –  26 Sep 2017

However that is not the whole story. CEPF II Meteor Investments S.à r.l is owned in turn by Catalyst European Property Fund II LP, registered at First Floor 17 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey.  And surprise surprise, the address NOT the company turns up in the Panama Papers, not once, not twice but three times.

Jersey for the uninitiated is a tax haven. Now for the sake of £3, the reporter and the paper could have bought the title deed and then checked with google and got the ownership part of their story correct, but alas no. It would appear you are not worth £3 pounds, nor is the truth, that the property is truly owned by a company based in Jersey which uses Luxembourg to make themselves more “tax efficient”. Is it any wonder people are losing faith in local newspapers.

Anyway, the developers have submitted the relevant documents to apply for planning permission; which will be decided at some point in the future. The development of the 24 flats may well mean that monies to purchase the flats may well make its way offshore; which of course is perfectly legal. 

The Shepwayvox Team – Dissent is NOT a Crime

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