A London man has admitted using letters of credit (L/Cs) and a store of false documents to fraudulently obtain more than £640,000 in a string of bogus transactions that supposedly involved lentils.

Glenn McCorquodale conned several buyers in India and Nepal by persuading them enter into deals in which they thought they would receive shipments, usually of lentils at very good prices. The Asian customers did not receive the goods they had ordered.

Forged documents

McCorquodale however presented apparently genuine paperwork, mainly to British banks, that appeared to show that shipments specified under the L/Cs had been made. One Geneva based bank is also involved in this case.

Southwark Crown Court in London heard that McCorquodale - whose activities centred on his apparent ability to forge credible documents and pose as a successful commodities broker - concluded deals that should have seen hundreds of tons of lentils change hands.

False identities

McCorquodale admitted six counts of using a false instrument with intent to deceive between January 1997 and August 2000.

The court heard that L/Cs were used in all of the frauds perpetrated by the defendant, who assumed various false identities, used a variety of bank accounts and engaged several middlemen in the bogus transactions.

Where's the money?

Sentencing by the court has been adjourned until next year, apparently to provide police with time to discover the whereabouts of any money left over from the frauds.

McCorquodale is believed to have gambled away a large proportion of the proceeds of his frauds.

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