Legal Contact

The current situation is that we have been warned away from continuing this action as the Directors of Albany and Mirasol wrestle with presumably RBS as to who owns the fund. I will be seeking advice on the letter sent by Mirasol and the status of the "Fund" as it is not what most of us believed it was. This has clearly disturbed many people.

Below is the contact for anybody interested in joining me :-


Joe Speakman
Trainee Solicitor
For and on behalf of
Irwin Mitchell LLP
IM Business - Commercial Litigation

2 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4BZ
Direct Tel: 0113 218 6459
Direct Fax: 0113 234 3322

joe.speakman@irwinmitchell.com
www.irwinmitchell.com

Joe is the main point of contact, his Boss has handled some of the largest Fraud cases in the UK.

Did anyone receive reply from Joe? I wrote to him a few days ago, but no response arrived.

Admin wrote:

The current situation is that we have been warned away from continuing this action as the Directors of Albany and Mirasol wrestle with presumably RBS as to who owns the fund. I will be seeking advice on the letter sent by Mirasol and the status of the "Fund" as it is not what most of us believed it was. This has clearly disturbed many people.

Below is the contact for anybody interested in joining me :-


Joe Speakman
Trainee Solicitor
For and on behalf of
Irwin Mitchell LLP
IM Business - Commercial Litigation

2 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4BZ
Direct Tel: 0113 218 6459
Direct Fax: 0113 234 3322

joe.speakman@irwinmitchell.com
www.irwinmitchell.com

Joe is the main point of contact, his Boss has handled some of the largest Fraud cases in the UK.

I also sent a mail but have received no reply as yet...but that was only 2 days ago.

As i understand it regarding the funds nothing goes anywhere until the administrators and major creditors agree
on a course of action and that all creditors should be notified in the meantime of what is happening. I understand that
a telephone line is to be setup according to Mirasol letter i received. I find this strange as how are members of Mirasol
going to 'prove' themselves as creditors. I think the whole legal structure of Mirasol is probably not what we were led to believe because it is obvious that all of us thought that it had a separate legal status from Albany. But if the Trustees are the directors maybe they are liable and seen as 'owning' the funds in Mirasol and Mirasol is therefore a legitimate asset to lock down. But then don't the trustees have an obligation to the beneficiaries? I notice that we were all referred to as members and not beneficiaries though so what does that mean.

I think the important task is to find out what exactly what legal structure Mirasol has. You never know , maybe RBS has no right to include itas part of its's efforts against Albany. I think it was set up with the help of Grant Thornton. This is why i think we need to persue legal advice and the more people join the less the cost for each individual.

Also, there has been anger directed at RBS and i can understand that but surely it is the business practices of Albany that should be questioned? As for the RBS stuff, a 3 million credit line sounds paltry given that they are reported to be giving out 1.5 billion pounds of bonuses this year. If they cut their bonus pool by 3 million ( i know it'simplistic) then Albany gets to stay in Business, people get to keep their jobs and 100s of contractors and their families get what is rightfully theirs and get to sleep at night. Hey , its owned by the government we should lobby our MPs...they owe us one after the expenses scandal.

In their Q+A document (which I'm sure will probably not be a legally binding document) Mirasol state ...

Quote :

What is Mirasol?
Mirasol is an international membership organisation providing a range of benefits, which is
exclusively available for consultants working with the Albany Group.
What is the structure of Mirasol?
Mirasol Holdings Ltd is a hybrid company that is registered in the Turks & Caicos Islands
under the company number of E.33294.
The term “Hybrid Company” is used to describe a company that is limited both by shares
and by guarantee. This is made up of two classes of members:
• Shareholders
• Guarantee Members
Guarantee Members are elected into membership on condition they undertake to
contribute to the debts in the event of the company being wound up. Guarantee Members
have no right to vote but all the rights to participate in the income and capital of the
company.
The control of Mirasol remains with the shareholders, whilst all benefits flow to the
Guarantee Members.
Anti-avoidance legislation in many countries aims to tax shareholders on the undistributed
or untaxed profits of low tax paying companies, as though the shareholders have received
those profits. Under the hybrid company structure, Guarantee Members do not own shares
or have control of Mirasol. Therefore it is generally believed that anti-avoidance legislation
is ineffective in taxing the profits rolled up within the hybrid structure. Additionally, such a
structure does not bring about any reporting requirement for the Guarantee Members [as
would the case be for shareholders] therefore avoiding unwanted attention from onshore
revenue authorities.

I can remember googling "hybrid company" at the time I joined and it seemed to be a legitimate structure in some countries.
Later they say ...

Quote :

What is the relationship between Albany and Mirasol?
Although Mirasol was formed as an initiative of the Albany Group; Mirasol Holdings Ltd is a
separate legal entity with its own management team.

They also mention that while the company is registered in the T+C Islands, that their bank is ...

Quote :

Who does Mirasol bank with?
Mirasol operates a range of designated currency accounts with the Royal Bank of Scotland
International in Jersey. RBSI is part of the RBS Group whose majority shareholder since
November 2008 is the UK government.

I am not a legal or financial expert but it looks like the key point for getting money back from Mirasol is going to be the determination by the administrators of how legally separate the company is from the other Albany companies. This assumes of course that the directors haven't already used the Mirasol fund as a handy overdraft to try and get thru their cashflow crisis at Albany - something I'm trying not to think about.

I'll try to verify the registration of Mirasol in the Turks and Caicos.
Albany refers to a conflict regarding the ownership. I don't think Albany gave a wrong information regarding the structure of Mirasol since acting as directors they can do whatever they want. And I'm sure the kind of juridiction will not let anyone having access to the name of the directors. RBS must know it since it accepted to open it's account. Then maybe RBS sized the account of Mirasol in fear of loosing the money lent to Albany.
In such a structure everything depends on trust. Now that everything has vanished one way of action is to reveal the whole structure as a dodgy way to avoid tax and explain we are in fact the real beneficiary of the money sent to Mirasol. That's why legal action could be directed towards RBS to explain the money does not belong to Albany or to the directors but to individual contractors.

can someone call the incoporation office on monday afternoon please? I will be away Monday and Tuesday.
http://www.tcimall.tc/government/
Finance Department
All Departments 649-946-2935/2937 Fax 946-2557
Grand Turk fsc@tciway.tc

Accommodation Tax Office: 946-2935/946-2937
All Departments: 946-2935/946-2937 F: 946-2557
Central Purchasing Unit: 946-2414
Chief Accountant: 946-2908
Companies Registry:946-2801/946-2550
Economist & Statistician: 946-2372
Gaming Inspectorate: 946-4365
Superintendent Offshore Finance Center:
946-2791 F: 946-2821 F (Provo): 946-4718

so the number I think should be +1 649 946 2791
ask if Mirasol Holdings Limited is up running (usually offshore companies have to pay annual fee to stay up and running)

can someone check that Albany companies are under administration please?

Joe is waiting for us to initiate real action. He has done some prep. work already but to progress he needs £1000 on account and proof of identity. We need to know who wants to be involved in action, then we can proceed. He will not respond to anybody until we are ready. I can contact him about this but I need to know who wants to act now !

People are naturally optimistic when they hear things like "you will get your money back... " When the letter comes through with the real bad news, I am sure that we will be swamped !!!!

Everybody say we have to do something and organise ourselves.

So who do I have to email to join a group that would be represented by a solicitor/would seek legal advice?

I was not a member of Mirasol and was just using Albany UK for my payroll.
They owe me my December salary.

Mirasol was never anything more than an unsophisticated way of avoiding tax. Its business model is not legal in any of the European countries that I have worked in, if you don't believe me just ask your accountant or the tax office. Do you really want to take legal action against Mirasol and draw attention to yourself from the Taxman?

Trying to take action against RBS is even more ridiculous since they have no reason whatsoever to recognise us as creditors. They are holding Albany's money, not ours.

Dear ALL,

Since I've discovered this forum ten days ago, I see a lot of individual complains, a forum more and more split betweend different subdivided subjects, and no real organization, plans, contacts, etc...

The danger of the situation is :
1) that every consultant remains isolated because his case is slightly different from the other. Some belong to Albany LTD, some to Mirasol, some to AMEA, etc...
2) that we keep listening to ourselves complaining without any action, plan, coordination. Administrators / Liquidators who watch this forum must have a smile by now!

My proposition :

1) SPLIT your cases depending on the factor : is your company under liquidation or administration? Depending on the case, let's divide into two groups.

2) each of you must right now individually send a mail + official post letter to administrators and claim what is owed to you.

3) Contact immediately an INSOLVENCY LAWYER for those who are consultants (not employees) and perform a common action (or two, depending on which group you belong on 1) ), sharing the costs of this action with the insolvency lawyer.

Especially for those under administration such as Albany AMEA, we must ACT NOW, as it means that the company still has money, but will simply be purged, washed out of all many left by the administrators within the next few months : in other words, the company is under administration for them to have time to claim ALL the money that the contractors owe them and use most of this money as a salary for their own administration expenses. In a few months, you will find yourselves with NOTHING left.
The only chance we have is to start to be EFFICIENTLY represented by a representative they will at least notice and respect a bit : A LAWYER.
As we are all concerned, let's take common action.

I've asked if there was a coordinator, I had no answer, so apparently there is none yet?
Today, a law cabinet will contact me by phone.
If there is no coordinator yet, please send me simply a post/mail with you alias on this forum, your group regarding question 1), your willingness to take action to a group action through legal lawyers, and the approximate sum that Albany owes you. I'm talking about only CONSULTANTS, no employees with full salaries here, as this is not done through an insolvency lawyer.

I DO HOPE that some consultants here will feel concerned and answer this post!

EDIT : the post of noprobs is RIDICULOUS. Every consultant has a contract with Albany, has worked, and has some RIGHTS. Albany is an existing company, not an outlaw mafia system outside the systems. Rules apply. Administrators have been named. And there are still laws and lawyers to protect all kind of creditors who have signed contracts.

Thanks,

You can contact Joe above, he is a good Solicitor with a large firm. He is a Trainee but he is a point of contact, he is backed by some of the most experienced pratitioners in this field. He will decide whether a class action is possible and then this can be organised. He has already started enquiries.

Organising a group of this size is impossible. People who have formed their own sub groups have weakened their position and the position of the rest of us. That was not the idea of this forum. One can only try !

Contrary to what other people have written on this forum, I have just spoken to Joe and he is more than happy to be contacted !

I am in contact with an insolvency lawyer. I am also willing to co-ordinate people who have claims against Albany as creditors. I will also ring Joe. I'll come back with some information today and how I think we should proceed with the insolvency case. Hopefully someone else can step up and starting organising Mirasol people? Does this sound ok? I don't want to step on any toes, but I want to get this underway.

[ Joe is currently looking at Mirasol only but he can handle insolvency too. Many people are organising Mirasol sub groups ! ]