Six held in Spain in Aim inquiry

[Joanne98]

Six men, including the suspected ringleader, allegedly linked to one of the biggest Stock Exchange frauds, have been arrested in Spain.

In a dramatic twist to the saga of Langbar International, a cash shell from which £365m disappeared more than three years ago, Spanish police have arrested Abraham Arad Hochman, a former director of Langbar, and five other men.

Mr Hochman has long been a prime target of shareholders who lost their money when the shares were suspended in October 2005.

The UK High Court has declared Mr Hochman in contempt for failing to comply with a multi-million pound asset-freezing injunction and sentenced him in his absence to 12 months in prison.

The Serious Fraud Office, which began its investigation at the end of 2005, co-operated with the Spanish police to make the six arrests at four homes and two business premises in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.

The SFO said on Wednesday that those arrested were aged between 56 and 76, and were all Spanish nationals except for an Argentinian man.

The detainees, who have not yet been charged, are alleged to have used false documents and “complex stock market operations . . . to make shares in the company rise”.

They then “enriched themselves via the fraudulent sale of the shares”, according to the Spanish police.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6cae0902-ed30-11dd-88f3-0000779fd2ac.html