British National Suspected of Swindling €1.8 Million
Published: 12.04.2012 15:04
Photo: Reuters/Scanpix
The Northern Prosecutors Office is investigating British national Philip Lawrence on suspicion of defrauding six foreign enterprises through his Estonian company Navaro Haldus.
Lawrence allegedly swindled a total of 1.8 million euros from the companies, all of which were providing services to the government of Iraq, the Eesti Ekspress weekly reported.
One of the alleged victims was Jordanian company Al-Jubail Industrial Development, which had ordered 1,000 tons of caustic soda flakes from the Estonian enterprise to fill an order from the Iraqi government.
According to Al-Jubail representative Wael Karadsheh, the enterprise transferred a 590,000-euro prepayment to Navaro's Swedbank account but never received the goods.
District prosecutor Vallo Kariler told the paper that the suspect has been interrogated.
According to Kariler, there have been some procedural delays in the case because the Prosecutor's Office is waiting for replies from China and Great Britain to requests for legal assistance.
Ingrid Teesalu