Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/01/2011 -- The star of the Oxo British TV commercials, Linda Bellingham, has been linked to the Royal Resorts, Paradise Bay property scam in Akbuk, Turkey.
Bellingham, who starred as the Oxo mum in the advertisements for twenty-three years, has been connected to the scam through her husband, Michael Pattemore.
Bellingham met Pattemore in Spain in 1997, after he served a two-year jail sentence for investment fraud.
Pattemore ran a real estate company in Calpe on the Costa Blanca in Spain along with the prime suspect in the Turkish scandal, New Zealander Lionel Andrews.
The Oxo mum has always dismissed her husband's criminal past with comments such as: "He was a small pawn in a financial scam. Michael has done his stint and it should be left to rest."
Police finally arrested Lionel Andrews this month in Alicante, Spain after a nationwide search.
Andrews allegedly sold apartments of for a non-existent Turkish Mediterranean resort in partnership with his brother Nigel and sister-in-law Margaret.
The search for Nigel Andrews and his British wife Margaret continues, after they disappeared from their Spanish office in June last year.
Interpol have reported that the outfit absconded with up to £1.2 million (US$2 million) of their investor’s money, which they took as deposits for non-existent properties on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
Allegedly, the group set up front companies in high-end venues, such as the Guadalpin Hotel in Marbella, before disappearing quickly without settling their bills.
Bellingham now stars in the popular UK daytime TV show ‘Loose Women’ and is set to be reunited with Oxo in a new series of TV commercials.
In the new, £10 million (US$16 million) advertising campaign for Premier Foods, Bellingham will appear as herself, offering recipe tips for using Oxo.
“Oxo and I have decided to get together again. I was very upset when it ended ten years ago. I am so associated with it and it has many fond memories and the time is right,” she commented.
Article source... http://blog.oceanvillasgroup.com/oxo-mum-linda-bellingham-linked-to-turkey-property-fraud/
Rebecca Smith
Ocean Villas Group - http://www.oceanvillasgroup.com