The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) have started investigations on another landbanking firm – Edgeworth Properties, reports the 21st Feb 2012 edition of The Business Times (CAD on trail of Edgeworth Properties?). This comes one-and-a-half-years after the probe on landbanking firm Profitable Plots.

According to the report, instead of transferring the land titles to the investors, Edgeworth allegedly mortgaged away or some of the Canadian properties and used some of them as collateral for loans. Edgeworth closed their Asian offices after the parent company obtained protection in Canada in November last year. The Canadian court also placed 16 properties under receiverships. Some mortgage companies are applying to sell the properties. If the sale goes through, the landbanking investors could end up with nothing.

It is believed that Singapore investors make up more than half of the C$70m investments in Edgeworth’s projects. They were allegedly promised returns of 60% to 100%.

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