Hertfordshire police have raided the Whetstone offices of International Wine Commodities Ltd (IWC), a company offering wine investments.

The raid, on 8 October, was carried out after search warrants were issued, allegedly on suspicion that IWC failed to buy en primeur wines that their clients had ordered and paid for.

One director, Oseghale Hayble, had been a director of the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company (BWTC), which is also under investigation by Hertfordshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit.

It is believed BWTC also did not buy en primeur wines, believed to be in the region of £750,000, that clients had ordered.

Hayble and fellow BWTC directors – Paul Craven and Nicolas Cashman – are currently on police bail until January 2009.

Another IWC director, Benedict Moruthoane, had been a director of the Bordeaux Wine Company, which is not under investigation. Hayble had also been a director of Bordeaux Wine Company.

IWC’s registered office is in Berkeley Street in Mayfair, one of London’s most exclusive business addresses. It trades from a serviced office in High Road, Whetstone.

Contact: DC Pete Thody of Hertfordshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit on 01707-638414 or peter.thody@herts.pnn.police.uk

Written by Jim Budd

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Jim Budd
Jim Budd
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer & Photographer

Jim Budd moved from education to wine in 1988 and has written for Decanter since 1989. He is the former editor (1991-2015) of Circle Update, the newsletter of the Circle of Wine Writers.  He writes the award-winning www.jimsloire.blogspot.com and is one of the five members of the Les 5 du Vin blog. Budd exposes the dangers of drinks investment on his award-winning www.investdrinks.org website, and complementary www.investdrinks-blog.blogspot.com blog. He also contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, Wine Behind the Label and the Academie du Vin. Budd is a keen photographer – especially in the Loire.