Fraud investigation into Manchester and Liverpool developers

The New Chinatown scheme was to be built on Liverpool's Great George Street

A suspected fraud involving three city centre property developments is being investigated, officials have said.

The Serious Fraud Squad (SFO) said a number of warrants had been executed at addresses across the UK in relation to projects in Liverpool and Manchester.

The plans being investigated are North Point Pall Mall and New Chinatown in Liverpool and Angelgate in Manchester.

The Companies House register lists only one of the companies involved with the schemes as still trading.

China Town Development Company Ltd was been involved with the £200m New Chinatown project, which aimed to bring 790 new homes and a hotel to an area on Liverpool's Great George Street.

The failed scheme was revived in 2018, after a consortium of investors bought the company for the leasehold on the council-owned land.

Similarly, the Angelgate site was sold to new investors before the developer Pinnacle (Angelgate) Ltd was liquidated, while part of the North Point Pall Mall scheme was purchased by a developer from North Point (Pall Mall) Ltd, which is under receivership.

Appealing for anyone who had invested in the schemes to get in touch, a spokesman for the SFO said he could not comment further on the investigation.