Robert McKendrick (left) of Capital Alternatives arrives at the high court in London. Capital Alternatives marketed a scheme for African Land Ltd that promised to develop rice farms in Sierra Leone. It took a 50% cut from the money paid by each new recruit. (Photo: Gavin Fog)

by ANDREW PENMAN
The Financial Conduct Authority is delighted with the ruling that an investment scheme which has already taken £8million from the public should be regulated.
To judge by its reaction, you’d think that an investment scheme that’s taken more than £8million from the public and that I’ve twice written about had just won a huge legal victory.
African Land Limited sold itself on the back of a promise that its rice farms in Sierra Leone could turn “a tidy profit of 15% a year”.
The watchdog Financial Conduct Authority claimed that this was the sort of investment scheme that should be regulated and, because it was not, it was operating unlawfully.