Fake ferry firm duped investors

By Glenn Campbell
BBC Inside Out, South East

John Airs was traced to a house in Sardinia

When hundreds of jobs in Kent and a fast link to the continent were promised by a visionary investor, local businesses and politicians took notice.

John Paul Airs, the man behind Chikara Shipping, was seen as a saviour to the region's shipping industry.

But a BBC Inside Out investigation has revealed that Mr Airs based his business on fake documents and duped backers out of millions of pounds.

It traced Mr Airs, who had disappeared with investors money, to Sardinia.

Mr Airs arrived in Dover in 2006 citing support from wealthy Middle Eastern associates.

EU Subsidies

By November that year, he had settled on creating a new terminal in Sheerness and operating a fleet of ferries on routes which took in Boulogne, Spain and Norway from summer 2008.

He set up a deal worth several hundred million pounds with French firm Bateau Grande Vitesse (BVG) to design and build the high-speed craft in three shipyards.

A 1m euro deposit for the ferries could not be cashed

The project was to be the first to use EU subsidies to get lorries off the roads and onto a new breed of environmentally-friendly ferries.

In November 2006, he handed over a cheque for 1m euros (£780,000) to BGV at a lavish reception attended by politicians, industry leaders and potential investors.

John Morris, mayor of Swale, said it was a "grand affair".

"I was surprised with the attendance, ministers from France and Belgium and Holland, our MP was there, quite a bunch of important people and I felt insignificant," he said.

When the BBC questioned the source of the money at the time, Mr Airs replied: "I went and robbed the Bank of England yesterday and as far as I'm concerned it's none of anyone's damn business."

I'm one of several who has been well and truly shafted by this guy Kevin Cooper, investor

But the cheque for BGV could not be cashed and, despite months of promises, a legitimate alternative never arrived.

Alain Rousseau, director of the Port of Boulogne, said: "Everyone was 100% sure he would succeed because they thought the money was there."

By courting the media and attracting attention around Europe, he was able to secure loans from investors.

Kevin Cooper, an international financier based in Newcastle, offered Mr Airs £1.6m from private equity funds.

Brazilian bank bonds worth about £100m were given as collateral, but later turned out to be fakes.

Mr Cooper said Mr Airs asked for a further £800,000, but soon after his repayments stopped.

"I'm one of several who has been well and truly shafted by this guy," he added.

Abandoned homes

When investors took Mr Airs to court in July 2007, he produced a letter from Lloyds TSB in Maidstone, signed by branch manager Andy Worthington, authenticating the bonds.

Mr Worthington, who refused to speak to the BBC, no longer works for Lloyds TSB.

Kevin Copper offered Mr Airs £1.6m from private equity funds.

In a statement, the bank said: "As this matter is likely to become the subject of litigation, in the circumstances it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

Investors, many of them ordinary people based in the United States, lost their money and BGV lost 1,200,000 euros.

Meanwhile Mr Airs abandoned his homes in Dover and Switzerland, cut off his phones and stopped responding to e-mails.

The Inside Out investigation traced him to Budoni in Sardinia but he refused an interview.

The results of the investigation have been handed to police.

The BBC Inside Out programme can be seen on BBC1 at 1930 BST on Friday, 25 April.