Back in business after £1m scam

A BUSINESSMAN whose firm was shut down earlier this year following a string of complaints over "unfair" selling practices is back in business.

Filip Lademacher’s telesales firm was closed following an investigation by Trading Standards after it was discovered his business had conned hundreds of firms out of more than £1 million.

But now it has been revealed Mr Lademacher has set up in the Capital again and is trading from offices in Stockbridge under a different name.

It is understood Trading Standards officers have received complaints about his new firm, which trades as TGL Publishing.

The complaints are alleged to centre around "cold calling" practices offering executives the results of detailed research which will help them run their businesses more efficiently. It is alleged several companies have been billed for receiving brochures without having agreed to take on the service.

It is understood the new business, in Inchallen House, Stockbridge, is being run by a manager and has about 15 telesales staff.

Mike Drewry, Edinburgh City Council’s director of environmental and consumer services, said: "We are aware of TGL Publishing. Edinburgh Trading Standards are presently monitoring the situation and have already raised certain issues with the business."

London-based Mr Lademacher’s previous company, Berger & Company, was wound up in March this year by the High Court in London. The Department of Trade and Industry ruled that the firm, which employed 50 people at its peak, was involved in "unfair" selling practices. Since then, other firms within the Berger Group have also ceased trading.

Berger used "disreputable" practices to persuade firms to part with hundreds of pounds for reports they hadn’t agreed to buy.

Staff at Berger made cold calls to firms across the UK offering to send them reports on various ways of improving their business.

The sales staff never mentioned a price for the brochures, but any firm that agreed simply to look at one received a pack. They were then billed up to £350 unless they returned the report within 21 days.

The city council’s trading standards department compiled a dossier of 850 complaints which was used as evidence in the High Court to close the firm down.

A spokeswoman for the DTI said they could not comment on whether Mr Lademacher was under investigation again, but said: "He wasn’t disqualified as a director and is not breaking any rules by setting up as a sole trader."

No-one at TGL Publishing was available for comment.

Last month, an accountant who worked for Berger and Co successfully won an unfair dismissal claim against the company.

Jack Smith voiced concerns that his boss was involved in "financial irregularities". He claimed that chairman Mr Lademacher had admitted taking missing cheques and diverting them to other companies owned by him.

Three days later, Mr Smith, 58, of Roseburn, Edinburgh, was told by Mr Lademacher that he was being made redundant.

An angry Mr Smith launched an unfair dismissal claim against the company, claiming the real reason he was sacked from his £30,000-a-year job was because he had raised the allegations against Mr Lademacher.

The tribunal unanimously upheld his complaint.

At the time of the tribunal, no-one from Berger and Co appeared to defend the case, but afterwards Mr Lademacher vehemently denied any involvement in financial irregularities.