Claims could rock Toon bid

Dec 17 2006 By Neil Farrington and Sarah Robertson, The Sunday Sun

Near-miss for national sport federation

A sponsorship deal set up by the Unofon Group with the Norwegian Speed Skating Federation nearly ended with the collapse of the sports body.

Unofon paid just £50,000 of the agreed £200,000 - a shortfall which almost sent the Federation to the wall. Unofon signed the skating deal in January 2005 - at a time when the annual return sent to us by the Jersey companies' register showed it was 57.5 per cent owned by the Gibraltar arm of the Belgravia Group.

The Norwegian Speed Skating Federation - named the Skøyteforbundet - cancelled the deal in June 2005 and the affair caused uproar in Norway, where speed skating is a national sport.

The Federation only avoided bankruptcy because another sponsor was found at the 11th hour.

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Telecoms firm gets in a fix

The internet companies caught up in the scandal involving Unofon - the firm linked by our evidence to Belgravia Group, Gibraltar - were the FixTelecom group.

FixTelecom went bust owing at least £15 million in April 2005, sparking a Norwegian Government- authorised probe.

FixTelecom was owned by the Unofon Group . . . the company which, according to documents we have received, was controlled by Belgravia Group Ltd of Gibraltar.

The Unofon Group closed FixTelecom's call centre in Spain in April 2005, sacking its 50-strong staff on the spot. Unofon has failed to comply with a Spanish court order to pay the workers eight months' wages each in compensation.

And the Unofon director who went to Malaga to close the call centre has told us that she was working on the orders of Belgravia Group Gibraltar.

Siri Wormdahl, the then director of Unofon Group's Nordic and Baltic operations, said: "The Belgravia Group told me to fire all the people in Spain."

Ms Wormdahl added: "The guy from Belgravia that was having the main contact with us was Russell King.

"But I went to London two or three times and met other people from the Belgravia Group there and in Oslo. I met Ian Halliwell and James Butterfield.

"The first time I met Russell was with Ole Børresen and Frode Trollebø (FixTelecom directors).

"Then Russell came to the call centre and we showed him how we were communicating with customers."

But Ms Wormdahl claimed she was then told to close the call centre by Belgravia . . . and worse was to follow.

"We were then not paid. Not only the customers suffered, we all did.

"We emailed Blair Bond (another Belgravia director) and Ian Halliwell and asked what was going on."

Having later left Unofon, Wormdahl - once a director of Norwegian football club Valerenga - now works for another Scandinavian telecoms company.

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How the events unfolded

June 2004: Discussions over merger of Belgravia Telecom (part of Belgravia Group companies in Jersey) with Norwegian firm FixTelecom to form Unofon Group.

NOVEMBER 2004: Planned date of the formation of Unofon Group Ltd.

JANUARY 2005: Unofon Group sign a deal to sponsor the Norwegian Skating Federation.

APRIL 2005: Staff at FixTelecom call centre - owned by Unofon - sacked without notice or severance pay.

JUNE 2005: Norwegian Skating Federation cancels Unofon sponsorship deal after receiving £50,000 of the £200,000 promised.

SEPTEMBER 2005: Spanish court orders Unofon to pay each FixTelecom call centre worker up to eight months' wages in compensation.

MARCH 2006: Norwegian authorities start investigating the collapse of FixTelecom group.

AUGUST 2006: Belgravia Group Jersey admits interest in buying Newcastle United.

NOVEMBER 18: Belgravia Group Jersey spokesman admits the company made a loan to the Unofon Group but said they never bought a shareholding in the company.

NOVEMBER 22: Sunday Sun asks for proof that Belgravia Group were never shareholders in Unofon Group Ltd in 2005.

NOVEMBER 22: Jersey's Financial Services Commission receives "amended copy" of Unofon Group Ltd 2005 annual return which does not list Belgravia Group Gibraltar as shareholders.

NOVEMBER 25: Belgravia Group lawyer Clive Sutton sends the Sunday Sun the same annual return.

DECEMBER 12: Jersey's FSC provides the Sunday Sun with Unofon Group Ltd's original annual return for 2005 . . . listing Belgravia Group Gibraltar as 57.5pc shareholders.

DECEMBER 16: Gibraltar Companies' House documents confirm that Belgravia Group Ltd Gibraltar is 88 per cent owned by Eagle Holdings Ltd, sole owners of the Jersey-based Belgravia Group.