Director ‘impersonated a colleague’ to agree lease

Director ‘impersonated a colleague’ to agree lease

Michelle Yuksel is on trial in the Royal Court charged with nine counts of fraudulent conversion.

It is the prosecution’s case that Ms Yuksel, who ran second-hand clothing businesses Parisma and Logistics 2 Go, took money from businessmen – many of whom were based in developing countries – on several occasions and then failed to fulfil their order or refund them.

Yesterday, during the second week of a trial expected to last three weeks, former colleague Rosemary McDonald, giving evidence for the prosecution, told the jury that they began looking for other premises after allegedly being evicted by their former landlord. According to her, the business was evicted for making alterations to the building without planning permission being in place. She also told the jury that, for a time, they worked from Ms Yuksel’s home.

Ms McDonald then claimed that, with her permission, she allowed Ms Yuksel to use her name to negotiate with a landlord at Rue des Près. She told the jury that this was because, following ‘bad publicity’, she thought Ms Yuksel’s name had been tainted to such
an extent that she would have been unable to come to an agreement with a landlord.

‘I agreed that she could do it because I thought that she could negotiate a better lease. If she said that she was Michelle Yuksel, she would not have got it,’ Ms McDonald said.

Later, following questioning from Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, Ms McDonald told the jury that despite Ms Yuksel resigning as a director, she still wanted to know everything that went on.

‘I was so used to her saying “don’t forget all of this was mine” and originally it was her company,’ she said.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard from a number of witnesses put forward by the prosecution including some who alleged that despite transferring thousands of pounds to Parisma, they never received any items.

Yesterday Ms McDonald told the jury that money paid to the company by clients was used to pay outstanding bills and expenses rather than dispatching their goods.

‘The shipping bills were a big problem,’ she said, adding: ‘When the money came in, it went on wages and other bills but the shipping bills were the ones that got left until last which was why some stuff was sent to the UK and did not go any further. That happened more than once.’

The trial continues.

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