Cognac, coins and comics have been seized by police investigating potential fraud and money laundering at a Brighton property company.
Detectives arrested a 58-year-old man on 14 July for questioning about money missing from the frozen accounts of PS&B, which managed the freeholds of scores of blocks of flats across the south coast.
A Portsmouth home and business address were raided on the same day. Three days later, police applied to Southampton Magistrates Court for an order to hold property belonging to PS&B’s sole director, Peter Hewett, 58.
Magistrates granted the order that property, namely various items including cognac, stamps, comic and coins, seized on 14 July could be further detained for six months.
In the meantime, the arrested man was released under investigation. The investigation, called Operation Palm, is being conducted by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (Serocu).
The company’s Queens Road offices in Brighton closed last month after the company’s sole director, Hewett, told staff he was hiring administrators. According to Companies House, none have yet been appointed, leaving staff in limbo.
As well as PS & B Estate Management, scores of staff from other companies in the Blue Bombini Group – PS&B Auctions, PS&B Lettings, LeaseX and C G Spratt and Son – have not been paid since April.
Because no administrators have been appointed, staff are unable to claim statutory redundancy from the government.
Two of his other companies, Hive Client Services and Carr Priddle Management, are now in liquidation after HMRC applied to the High Court to have them wound up.
Hive Client Services is owned by Jonathan Hewett, 31, and Alexandra Hewett, 28, and Peter Hewett is the sole director. Carr Priddle Management is owned by Peter Hewett.
Another winding-up petition from HMRC in relation to PS & B Estate Management is due to be heard at the High Court tomorrow.
Peter Hewett is listed as the current director of 20 companies on Companies House, all of which are registered to the same address in London Road, Portsmouth.
These companies also include the accountancy firm A J Wheeler, which also has a branch in Hove.
Peter Hewett was excluded from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 2024, and severely reprimanded last year over allegations of unpaid and/or unfiled taxes.
Mr Hewett previously told Brighton and Hove News the first decision was based on incomplete evidence and was incorrect, and in the second case, it was HMRC who was responsible for unfiled taxes.
