Bankruptcy petition lodged against Avocet chairman

 by DOUG COLLIE,

Martin Frost, head of the 'disruptive technology' Avocet Group of companies, has announced his intention to pursue a sweeping criminal complaint against several parties including Scottish Borders police officers and the Procurator Fiscal service in Jedburgh.

The move follows court proceedings against Mr Frost in Scarborough and in Jedburgh on Monday, including the submission of a bankruptcy petition involving the sum of £4 million, according to a letter circulated by Mr Frost to hundreds of Avocet Natural Capital (ANC) shareholders.

His communication entitled "Malicious Prosecution". and a second missive outlining developments involving prospective purchasers of the business make no mention of last week's planned meeting with investors aboard ship off Cyprus. 

Mr Frost states in the Malicious Prosecution document: "With the assistance of some Israeli colleagues, and an outlay of over £230,000 Martin Frost has arranged to lay before Police Scotland on Friday 25^th September 2020, a detailed criminal complaint that Mrs Aileen Orr of Sunwick Farm, the ‘bully girls’ [Mr Frost's personal name for the joint administrators of insolvent subsidiary Orrdone Farms], local Scottish Border members of Police Scotland, Jedburgh’s Procreator (sic) Service, along with many guileless fellow conspirators and bloggers have actively sought to defraud Avocet.

"It was tough being on the receiving end of so many layers of fabrication, which ultimately led on Monday 14^th September to the hearing of criminal charges in Jedburgh Sheriff Court and bankruptcy petitions against Martin Frost and Janet Orr Frost in Scarborough County Court for some £4 million pounds: petitions engineered so that Sunwick and Houndwood farms could be given to the Orr family. Happily, such actions now await the outcome of the Orr complaint."

The Avocet chairman then goes on to outline detailed claims of an alleged 'fraudulent scheme' hatched against him by various parties.Several Scottish law firms are named together with the Crown Office and the Scottish National Party.

 He goes on to tell shareholders"Avocet and the Frosts are obliged to seek compensation from the ‘bully girls’; ‘Police Scotland’; and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. And to this end, Martin Frost and Avocet have pulled together a world class legal team which expects to outlay a further £250,000 to obtain justice for Avocet – such justice will include the restoration of Omega Infinite Plc and Orrdone Farms Limited to the Company House registrar. This expenditure is funded by Loch Lomond Heritage Limited who has and is obliged to sell some assets including ANC Plc discounted shares to fund such."

Mr Frost is the sole director of Loch Lomond Heritage with all of the company's shares held by members of his family.

So far as the latest moves on the Avocet business front are concerned, investors are informed that some  400,000 ANC Plc shares have changed hands and in the coming week a further 400,000 shares are likely also to change. 

"The main motivations for this flurry of share holder activity are debt consolidation along with the acquisition of discounted shares; this week’s motivation for share movements appears to be restructuring within family holdings where people are rearranging their family portfolios to mitigate capital gains and death duties."

Those with a stake in the company have already been told by Avocet's directors that the unnamed investors are seeking an option to purchase all remaining ANC shares by the end of 2023. But that would need a change in the company's articles of association, requiring approval by at least 75% of shareholders.

Mr Frost writes: " To secure this option ANC Plc will need a simple change in its company articles, such change will require the consent of 75% of those shareholders who choose to vote. 

"That said, it would also assist if 95% of all ANC Plc shareholders consent that this change can be made at short notice rather than the 28 days that could be required. The directors of ANC Plc would like to be in a position by Wednesday 30^th September to conclude the proposed transaction. If in the unlikely situation that 95% of shareholders do not agree to the short notice then the transactions are unlikely to conclude until December 2020."