According to The Guardian, Versailles, the trade finance company which went into receivership in January 2000, owing its banks approximately Ј60m, is known to have made deals totalling Ј495,209 with Carl Cushnie Jr, the son of the company’s founder.
These transactions were made through the group’s controversial ‘MP’ Financing package; a product designed to finance small and medium sized companies through every stage of the manufacturing process. Versailles had already called in outside accountants in early 1999 to vindicate their ‘MP’ package following a DTI investigation sparked by the collapse of a company with which Versailles had recently done business. The accountants were unable to give their endorsement to the ‘MP’ package. It has been disclosed that in the financial year 1997/98, the Carl Cushnie Jr company, i2i, conducted ‘MP’ deals with Versailles which amounted to Ј495,209.
