Farrier family arrested in £1m European Social Fund scam probe

May 9 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

Farrier family: Woodview House

Money had been paid from the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund through the UK Government to companies based in County Durham.

It, in turn, was supposed to pass on the money through various initiatives and training courses it ran.

Suspicion arose when Gone asked to examine the accounts to see which projects had benefited from money from the European social fund. The inquiry team examined, in particular, the activities of two companies, Development and Research Initiatives Limited and Meteor Enterprises Limited, both with registered offices at Wood View House, Cornsay Colliery.

The two companies were paid a total of £986,031 in grants from the European Social Fund.

No further action is to be taken against three of the eight arrested in the raids of December 2007.

Yesterday, several vehicles were parked outside Wood View House.

A Farrier family spokesman said the allegations would be denied.

Meteor Enterprises Ltd’s website describes it as providing “technical and vocational secondary, adult and other education and research and development on social sciences and humanities.”