THE BUSINESSMAN who left hundreds of Rugbeians out of pocket after he put his £315,000 house in Rugby up as a £5 raffle prize has had his companies wound up in the High Court.
Abdul Majid told the Advertiser this week that it is unlikely anyone will see their money again after hundreds of people brought tickets for a fiver, before his business venture collapsed.
Investigators discovered that Mr. Majid had, in fact, put all the competition money into his own private account after his company, MJ Prizes, was unable to obtain banking facilities.
Talking exclusively to the Advertiser, he said that he still receives hate mail from people in Rugby and is 'truly sorry' to all the people who lost money.
What do YOU think? Click here to send us your views.He added: "The chances of anyone getting their money back is all in the hands of the litigation department, as they now have everything I own.
"People have sent me threatening letters - and even those have had to go straight to the litigation department.
"They have got all the tickets and I suppose there is still hope that they can work something out.
"But in the meantime, I would like to say sorry again to everyone."
Back in August last year, the Birmingham businessman made an offer too good to be true - he put his up his four-bedroomed house in The Arbours as a £5 raffle prize.
But as we previously revealed, Mr. Majid's scheme to sell enough tickets to make a profit collapsed when ticket sales were not successful.
However, investigators said Rugbeians paid and lost just under £9,000 from the collapse - and it could be more but the records kept were 'inadequate'.
Dozens of ticket holders, some who lost hundreds of pounds, rang the Advertiser for help and we tracked down Mr. Majid and found out exactly what had happened.
When his business, MJ Prizes, collapsed he started again under a new alias, House4U Limited.
But when that also fell through, he vowed to hold a £1,000 prize draw instead, leaving Rugbeians furious.
However, that did not materialise and now the High Court has wound up his businesses and made him bankrupt, after an investigation from the Companies Investigation Branch of the Insolvency Service.
He said he has suffered 'emormously' with his health since the collapse and is still receiving medical treatment for stress-related illnesses.
