Paul Dougan: Man charged over alleged £7million fraud is living on state benefits, court told

Liam Ward, from Co Derry, and Scottish man Paul Dougan face a total of 41 charges in relation to an alleged wind turbine scam.

A court was told this week the “very complicated” case involves around 5,500 documents.

As a result, it has been adjourned until June to allow the defence and prosecution teams to examine the material.

It also emerged at the hearing that Dougan (54) has been awarded legal aid status for his defence team because he is on Universal Credit benefits.

Ward (57) is not on benefits.

The two men set up Diamond Global Trading & Investments Ltd in 2011. They are charged with using the company to dishonestly obtain funds from investors to construct and operate wind turbine sites.

According to court documents, the total amount invested in the wind turbine plans between January 2016 and January 2017 was £7,396,791.57.

However, instead of developing the wind turbine sites, Ward and Dougan are alleged to have used the money for property investments in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This includes the alleged use of £117,000 to buy a building known as The Gravel at 10 Main Street in Castledawson.

The Gravel was the original address for Diamond Global Trading & Investments Ltd and it is also the current address of Mr Ward’s company, Ward Design.

Mr Ward is charged with dishonestly obtaining funds from investors between January 4, 2016 and June 12, 2017.

He faces two allegations of fraud by false representation in connection with a document about the renewable energy sector which was shown to potential investors.

The Co Derry man is further accused of two charges of making and supplying articles for use in a fraud, as well as two alleged offences of possessing articles in connection with a fraud.

He is also accused of acquiring criminal property and a total of nine charges of transferring criminal property.

The charges of transferring criminal property relate to the transfer of money in relation to property investments.

Ward is alleged to have transferred £1.6m to a legal firm in 2016 for the development of a building known as Stuart House in Burnley, England.

Ward is also alleged to have transferred money to legal firms in 2016 and 2017 for the purchase of several other properties.

These include £585,000 for the purchase of a property at Ladeside House in Skeldon in Scotland; £500,685 to buy Spiersfield House in Paisley, Scotland; and £285,000 for the purchase of a property at Hughenden Gardens in Glasgow.

He is also accused of transferring £70,000 as part payment for a property at Ladeside House in Skeldon.

Ward is also charged with transferring £72,500 for the purchase of two former church buildings in Scotland and England.

Dougan faces the same 17 charges as his co-accused but is also charged with a further seven offences of being in contravention of an order which banned him from being a company director. These additional charges cover the period from April 2013 to February 2017.

According to the Companies House website, Diamond Global Trading & Investments Ltd was placed into administration in May 2018.

More details on the background behind Diamond Global Trading & Investments emerged in a report published by Grant Thornton in December 2018.

The report said the original plan for the business was to buy “distressed real estate” in the UK with a view to redeveloping the properties.

It states that Ward and Dougan both invested £100,000 as the initial funding for their plans.

Ward told the administrators the company initially purchased two development sites, one in Scotland and another which was a disused mill in Burnley.

There is no mention in the report about the company’s plans to develop wind turbine sites.

Grant Thornton said they had received claims of just over £6m from people who had invested money with Diamond Global Trading & Investments Ltd, and a further £1.8m in claims from businesses owed money by the company.