The Lochaber Highland Estates Buy a Title Not For Profit Saga Continued

After my receiving the reply in my last post from Ricky Guilmoto of the Guernsey income tax department about  Lochaber Highland Estates' not for profit status, I enquired about the apparent inability of the Guernsey Tax department to disclose the public records of registered not for profit companies, I received the following reply.

Thank you for your e-mail of the 10th September, 2012.

I have discussed your query with the Deputy Director and in reply can advise that in general terms an organisation can only be registered as a Non Profit Organisation (NPO) if it is, in fact, non profit making. My enquiries so far have not established that this is the case.

As you can appreciate, the affairs of the company are confidential unless it is required to not only be registered as a NPO but to be registered in the public part of the register, which is on our website.

At present there is nothing to suggest that an offence has been committed under The Charities and Non Profit Organisations (Registration)(Guernsey) Law, 2008, as amended, which is the only legislation this office has the power to enforce.

I suspect that the gist of your complaint may be that the company was wrongly asserting that it was non profit making and that you may have been misled in your dealings with it. If that is the case the complaint would probably fall within the remit of the Advertising Standards Authority rather than this office, as the advertising on the website could appear to be incorrect.

As you have noticed, the website has now been changed to remove the claim that the company was “Not-For-Profit”.

I understand that the register of companies in Alderney is indeed separate from the Guernsey register, and may be contacted by telephone on 822817.

I hope this answers your query.

Ricky Guilmoto
Income Tax Inspector

So it would appear that the Guernsey income tax authorities are unable to easily establish whether or not a company claiming not for profit status does actually have that status. I find that a bit odd, but as it is straight from the Guernsey tax office I'll have to take it as being true.

More worryingly, it appears that in the Channel Islands it is perfectly ok for a company to announce publicly that it is in fact a not for profit organisation without registering as such. so long as it is not actually one!

Is that why the Channel Islands are commonly known as a scammers paradise? Is it that companies can do whatever they want with no consequences? Are the Channel Islands authorities willing to cover up abuse like this without even comment never mind doing anything about it? I would advise not dealing with any Channel Islands companies at all ever, until some kind of reasonable transparency and accountability of companies registered there is put in place.

The Lochaber Highland Estates Not For Profit Statement

Up until sometime last week Lochaber Highland Estates, run be the same people as Highland Titles Glencoe Estates were claiming on their website to be a not for profit company. Not for profit companies in the Channel Islands which includes Alderney where they are based, are required
by law to be registered as not for profit if that is what they are.



Lochaber Highland Estates are not registered as a not for profit company in the Channel Islands, the document listing properly registered companies is available here, Lochaber Highland Estates are not on it.  If they are a not for profit company they may have been breaking the law, namely the Charities and Non Profit Organisations (Registration) (Guernsey) Law, 2008. Details can be seen here and here.

I sent an enquiry to Guernsey Trading Standards enquiring about Lochaber Highland Estates regarding their not for profit status. At first there was no reply at all, then after a further enquiry I received the following email.

"The Charities and Non Profit Organisations (Registration) (Guernsey) Law, 2008 is administered by the Office of the Registrar of Non Profit Organisations.  I have tried to contact the Registrar but he is not in the office until the 4th September, unfortunately Trading Standards has no powers under this law and we cannot take any action.  I will make sure that your complaint is passed to the Registrar as soon as he is available."

While I was waiting for this reply from Guernsey Trading Standards, I found an email address for the Registrar (npo@gov.gg), and sent an email to it, I have never received a reply to that email or any acknowledgement that it was ever received. Lesley Smith of Trading Standards kindly forward my enquiry to the Registrar, here is the reply I received from Mr Ricky Guilmoto of the Guernsey Tax department.

"Thank you for your e-mail, which you will see was forwarded on to me yesterday afternoon by Lesley Smith.

I am sorry but I cannot confirm whether the company has complied with the Charities and Non Profit Organisations (Registration) (Guernsey) Law, 2008 nor outline to you what action may be taken. However, I can assure you I will look into your complaint and take whatever steps are necessary.

I realise you had asked for more information but I’m sure you can appreciate why I cannot go into any more detail. 

Ricky Guilmoto
Income Tax Inspector" 

 Shortly after I received this email the not for profit claim "We are proud to be a not-for-profit organisation", was removed from the Lochaber Highland Estates website and was replaced by "We are proud to be a Limited Company".

There are a couple of things that puzzle me, if Guernsey Trading Standards have no powers to investigate a company which may be acting illegally, what do they actually do, and what powers do they have? Also I find it strange that the Registrar is unable to disclose whether a company does or does not comply with the regulations when it is a matter of public record and something I was able to find out for myself anyway by searching for and finding the relevant document freely available on the Internet.

I have made further enquiries to clarify why the information is not available, and whether any action taken can be disclosed after any investigation has been concluded, but have as yet not received a reply.

Lochber Highland Estates have definitely been claiming to be a not for profit company while not being so registered as required under the Charities and Non Profit Organisations (Registration) (Guernsey) Law, 2008.

If they are not and never have been a not for profit company they should never have been claiming this status, so doing is dishonest. This gives an impression to members of the public that they comply with the regulations required, and that their accounts are subject to proper examination and availability, when this is not the case.

This is yet another example of the dishonest practises used by the people that run these companies to try to legitimise their scams, and give an impression of respectability to their dubious conservation claims. Remember, it is the same people that are behind both Lochaber Highland Estates and Highland Titles Glencoe Estates.

Also remember that it is supposedly a professor, a barrister, and a qualified accountant that run these companies, so I'd think it can hardly be in error that they made this not for profit status claim.

***********************************************************************************

I have a lot more evidence suggesting dishonest and unethical business practices by several souvenir plot / title vendors which I have not published.. If you are a bona fide journalist or Government department with an interest in investigating this business and would like access to that evidence, please get in touch with me by using the email address on the right or sending me a comment marked "confidential", I will not publish comments so marked

Cease & Desist Notice From Highland Titles - Buy a Title Scam

Seems my little blog is upsetting Highland Titles. They issued a Cease & Desist notice. Not on grounds that I've said anything inaccurate ... nope ... on grounds of copyright infringement.

June 2, 2012
Sender Information: Highland Titles Limited trading as Lochaber Highland Estates
Sent by:  Lochaber Highland Estates
GB Recipient Information:
Google, Inc. [Blogger]
Mountain View, CA, 94043, USA 

Sent via: online form: Form
Re: Infringement Notification via Blogger Complaint
Google Form: copyright DMCA Complaint of alleged copyright infringement 

1. Complainant's Information
Name:
Company name: Lochaber Highland Estates
Full legal name of the copyright holder: Highland Titles Limited trading as Lochaber
Highland Estates
Country of residence: GB 

2. Your copyrighted work
Location of copyrighted work (where your authorized work is located):
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/domestic?domesticnum=2486520
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-find-number?detailsrequested=Câ„¢mark=2486519
Description of the copyrighted work:
The blogspot site is passing off as associated with Lochaber Highland Estates by its choice of name
http://lochaberhighlandestate.blogspot.com/ and by its use in the text of
words which have been trademarked by Highland Titles Limited. Examples are:
Lochaber Highland Estates, Laird of Lochaber.

Well that is a bit rich coming from Highland Titles, who themselves are not above stealing other peoples intellectual property. Remember the Glen Etive & Glen Fyne Special Protection Area map they stole from Scottish National Heritage, put their own logo on to make it look like theirs, and put on display on their website? SNH made them remove that one!

Then there is the matter of the image on their Facebook page which they do not have the copyright holders' permission to use. I'm not telling them which one and the copyright holder has kindly agreed to leave it there for the time being as evidence of copyright infringement.

Oh yes, then there was the case when Peter Bevis was involved in his fishing license con, http://highlandtitlesscam.wordpress.com/the-fishing-rod-licence-application-scam/ caught red handed using the Environment Agency’s official rod licence logo without their knowledge or permission.

They even had the cheek to infer themselves to be a Government service - "leading users to infer it was a Government service" - http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2011/09/fee-or-free-telephone-preferen.html

It is sad that the people that run Highland Titles Glencoe Estates are supposedly a distinguished professor, a lawyer, and a qualified accountant, but they stoop so low as to steal without a second thought other peoples' property. Could it possibly be that the qualifications are as fake as their titles?

Highland Titles Glencoe Estates Jubilee Wood Project

The debacle that is the Highland Titles Glencoe Estates Diamond Jubilee Wood Project continues and the story has now changed substantially. Read the original post about it here. The text on their own diamondjubileewood.com website has recently been edited, and their own newsletter from Autumn / Winter 2012 has also been altered in an attempt to make it look like the current story has always been the story.

There is more information about this project and their original claims over at the highlandtitlesscam blog.

The changed story appeared after my original blog post (link above) and the discussion about their Jubilee Wood Project on the scots-titles.com forum.

The claim to be "in partnership with the Woodland Trust is no longer being made, but they do apparently make a false claim that the Woodland Trust confirmed that the land was entirely suitable for planting as below.

"Highland Titles acknowledges the valuable support given by the Woodland Trust during their visit to Keil Hill to inspect the site with us in 2011. The Woodland Trust confirmed that the land was entirely suitable for planting, but that as only 50 acres of the proposed new 60 acre wood would be newly planted (the other 10 acres being existing larch woodland and birch) we would not qualify to be included in their Diamond Woods scheme"

I contacted Andrew Campbell of the Woodland Trust and he denies having ever indicated that the land is suitable for planting, either in part or as a whole. Seems like more misleading information from Highland Titles, and more claims which do not stand up when questioned.

Original Autumn / Winter Newsletter

Recently Modified Autumn / Winter Newsletter

It seems that the only advice offered by the Woodland Trust was that the site was not suitable to be included as part of their Diamond Jubilee Woods Project.