Police have started questioning six people over Crown Currency Exchange which collapsed owing £16 million.
The indivicuals were arrested by Devon and Cornwall Police on suspicion of money laundering and fraud offences, the Cornish Guardian reported. Detectives launched a series of co-ordinated raids at four properties in Cornwall and one in Hertfordshire.
Crown Currency Exchange was one of the country’s largest personal currency exchange businesses allowing customers to pre-order foreign currency for values between £300 and £10,000 up to a year in advance.
The company went into administration in October. Soon after it collapsed police began a criminal investigation into the actions of the directors of Crown Currency Exchange and Crown Holdings.
According to the administrator’s report, Crown Currency collapsed owing £16 million with little more than £3 million in the bank. A police spokesman said that they had now linked the collapse of a cash-for-gold company called Mayfair and Grant to the criminal investigation.
Insolvency specialists MCR and SPW have been appointed as administrators for Crown Currency Exchange. Both were also appointed as joint liquidators of Mayfair and Grant, which was based in the same building in Hayle as the currency company.
Detective Inspector Paul Bean, head of the Devon and Cornwall Police economic crime unit, said: “This is a lengthy and complicated investigation in which there are many lines of inquiry to pursue.
“It is anticipated that there are more than 8,000 people involved in relation to the collapse of these companies. Police are liaising with the administrators for Crown Currency and liquidators for Mayfair and Grant.”