Dream became a mare
Penman & Sommerlad 13/09/2007
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A cashback sweetener helped persuade Alan and Marion White to sign up to the notorious Designer Way Vacation Club.

The couple, from Westbury, Wilts, paid £7,330 to join Garry Leigh's Spanish holiday club - then called Dreamworks - in 2001. And they were told they would also qualify for a cashback rebate of up to £14,000 in five years' time.

The small print guaranteed they would get at least 10 per cent of that figure. And cheap holidays, of course (yeh, right).

So, five years on, did they get their money? Er, no. Instead they got a letter from Spanish firm Cashback Promotions explaining what had happened to their cash.

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The letter said the funds were invested in 2002 by a Caribbean off-shore outfit called Bank Crozier.

But the next year, the bank went into liquidation and its assets are still frozen. Hence no payout for the Whites.

But Bank Crozier was in trouble long before Cashback Promotions got involved.

In 2000, the Granada government announced plans to revoke the bank's licence because it was "carrying on business in a manner detrimental to the interest of its depositors".

According to the liquidator, the bank's management was "inefficient and inept" and Û11.5million was siphoned off by boss Peter Johansson and his friends.

The money left was "invested in non-performing activities and low return projects" and investors stood to make a loss or, at best, break even.

We tried to speak to Cashback Promotions about Bank Crozier and ask where they are investing money from Designer Way Vacation Club sales now.

But they aren't answering the phone or replying to our emails.

I believe this will be a 10 year affair, I remember seeing something scheduled in April and another one in August 2008, there will not be any assets left, so it is a write off, use it for taxes, if cleverly done its a way to recover