Oil investors left in limbo by fraud case

MORE than 150 investors who bought shares in a fledgling oil company have been unable to trade the stock for almost three years after a fraud inquiry locked their share certificates in limbo.

The Texas Oil & Gas shares were sold in early 2002 to Grenada-based Salisbury Merchant Bank. Salisbury sold the stock, worth £500,000, to private investors through broking subsidiaries.

The shares were among cheap 'penny stocks' sold by subsidiaries over the phone to investors in the UK and elsewhere. But in July 2002 Salisbury subsidiaries in the UK, Spain and Grenada were raided by the Serious Fraud Office and the group went bust, leaving the investors out of pocket and without their share certificates.

Now one private investor is trying to set up a group of aggrieved shareholders in an attempt finally to get hold of their shares.

Cambridge-based private investor Pete Montique said: 'Having put in £20,000 three years ago I have not been able to sell a single share because I do not have the certificates. I keep getting fobbed off. Now I am trying to get an organisation together of other shareholders in the same boat.'

The SFO said last week it was still continuing investigations into Salisbury, but had made no charges against individuals.

Meanwhile, the Grenada Supreme Court appointed accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to liquidate the assets of Salisbury and its subsidiaries.

Marcus Wide, senior vice-president of PwC, said shares in several companies which had been sold by Salisbury - but held up by the scandal - had now been issued to their rightful owners. But final confirmation of shares to be issued in Texas Oil & Gas had yet to be completed.

Wide said: 'In every case, we have to make sure there are enough shares to go round and for some companies, frankly, there were not enough.'

A spokesman for Texas Oil & Gas said the company sympathised with investors who had a legitimate claim. 'All we want is to get these shareholders properly on board,' he added.