A land banking company selling land in Lincolnshire, has been ordered into liquidation in the High Court on grounds of public interest following an investigation by Company Investigations, part of The Insolvency Service.

The investigation found that the company, VP Commodities Ltd, marketed plots of land in Grantham, Lincolnshire to investors on the false basis that it had strong development prospects.

The court heard that the company had been formed to continue the unscrupulous land banking business of Vinci Trading Ltd , previously closed down on public interest grounds.

Vinci Trading Ltd had earlier been investigated by Company Investigations and ordered to close having misled and exploited investors by falsely claiming that the land being marketed was likely to gain planning permission for residential development in the foreseeable future (see Note 2).

Chris Mayhew, company investigations supervisor, said: “The public need to be on their guard against the activities of unscrupulous companies which exploit investors in land banking with the promise of high returns which may never materialise.