But it emerged on Friday that M&S's continental European stores had attracted the attention of Pinault Printemps Redoute, the French retail group.. Fraud investigators fear that dishonest operators, dubbed the "claret web" by the wine trade, have earned millions of pounds by offering claret investments which will never be realised. Fraud investigators fear that dishonest operators, dubbed the "claret web" by the wine trade, have earned millions of pounds by offering claret investments which will never be realised.In some cases, the wine is sold to investors at massively inflated prices which will never be recouped. In others, their wine is never bought at all.Over the past 12 months, company investigators at the Department of Trade and Industry have closed down three claret investment companies Croft and Dupont, Ashley Witter and Ashley White for allegedly selling wine stocks which do not exist and for misrepresenting the value of the investments.Croft and Dupont is accused of using a false address in Paris, failing to buy wine they had received money for, and a company director of deliberately obstructing the investigation. Computer records and company documents have allegedly disappeared.Ashley White and Ashley Witter allegedly failed to allocate the clarets, including Lafite, Ch?au Cheval Blanc and Mouton-Rothschild they apparently bought for their clients.
One senior Ashley Witter executive has disappeared.The wine trade's hundreds of legitimate brokers and investment firms are furious about the corruption. They fear that the claret web's activities will seriously damage the reputation of an honest industry. One major wine broker who is owed more than £7,000 in one suspected fraud said: "These are rogue operators, who frankly aren't standard issue members of the trade."Paul Smith, a solicitor with a Kendal-based firm which specialises in alcohol frauds, Pearson's and Pearson's, said many investors were selected because they had dabbled in sharedealing. He represents about 25 clients who have lost money on claret investments, including customers of the firms shut down by the DTI."It is misrepresentation on the basis that because some wines have increased in value, all wine will increase by that percentage," he said. "If you buy wine at twice or three times its true value, it's never going to reach that figure."In a further, unconnected case, accountants at Deloitte and Touche are investigating the affairs of a long-standing claret investment company, Allwines, which collapsed earlier last month with debts of more than £1.3m.According to documents obtained by The Independent on Sunday, Deloitte and Touche uncovered a "significant discrepancy" of more than £1.2m in Allwines stocks.
It only found wine worth £135,000, despite claret sales totalling more than £1.34m.The Allwines case blew up last month after David Allan, its owner, faced more than 70 investors and trade creditors at a "pretty aggressive" creditors meeting in the City. Some investors spent as much as £70,000 or £84,000 with his firm. One Bordeaux winemaker, Ch?au Lafleur, also appears to be owed £366,000.According to confidential minutes of the meeting, Deloitte and Touche warned that "it would appear that the liquidator will encounter great difficulties identifying the wine stock" held by the company or its 123 private clients.Some customers live abroad. One private investor, who asked not to be named, has bought about £36,000 of top growth clarets from Mr Allan's firm since 1990, including Ch?au Lafite 1986, Mouton-Rothschild 1993 and 57 bottles of various vintages of Ch?au Lafleur.Mr Allan had claimed his portofolio was worth £54,000. On paper, some wines bought in the early 1990s had increased in value by several hundred per cent But the investor now fears his wine holding does not exist. "The explanations given at the meeting were unsatisfactory," he said "Everyone who spoke regarded David Allan as a friend.
