Business Development Partnership wound up

Sales promotion agency the Business Development Partnership (BDP), two of whose former directors were convicted of a conspiracy to defraud Abbey National, has called in the receivers.

BDP’s clients – understood to include BSkyB, Cadbury, NatWest, Vimto and recent win Royal Mail Parcelforce – have been informed of the move, but refused to comment. The agency has a turnover of more than &£8m.

The extent of the agency’s debts is unclear.

Companies House has received notification that receivers John Dare and SS James of Farringdon, London, have been appointed.

Former BDP directors Ian Zak and Timothy Spillane were convicted in 1997, along with six co-defendants including ex-Abbey marketing services director Mike Doyle, for their part in a conspiracy to defraud the bank of more than &£1m, as exclusively revealed in Marketing Week (November 25 1994).

The case uncovered how Doyle approved agency invoices for work that had never been done and then took “kickback” payments of more than &£250,000 from agency directors, who also benefited.

At the time of the fraud, BDP was part of the Princedale Group, but it secured a management buyout in 1997 – led by the then managing director Chris Knight.