FCIB owner pinched

Deuss a multi-millionaire oil tycoon was arrested by police and detained in custody on October 13 on suspicion of money laundering handling stolen goods and being in charge of a criminal organisation. He was expected to appear in court last week to be bailed or released.

The FCIB was placed into administration by the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles on October 11 which will assume control of the FCIBs assets to re-pay funds to traders and to close the bank down. The FCIBs assets are intact save for ?40million ( 26.79million) which it has paid to release 78million tied up in correspondent banks.

Mobile News understands that there are sufficient funds within the FCIB to reimburse traders. A process of verification will be undertaken before funds are returned and account holders outside of the phone trade will be dealt with first. Proceedings against the FCIB continue.

PNC mediation a non-event

PNC refused to explain the cancellation of the meeting. PNC claims that a shortfall of 940000 appeared in its accounts after former directors Geremy Thomas Nigel Etherington and Jeff Pack resigned in 2004.

One director repaid the money he took this month. PNC has filed against the other two.

Chocolate in the pink

The LG Chocolate Pink has the same specifications as the original handset including a music player.

Brian Na president of LG UK said that with the new colour LG is offering existing Chocolate fans an opportunity to add to their collection while also reaching out to a new group of mobile users.

Two more stores for Mainline

There are 18 stores in Mainlines m-viron retail chain as it stands which is concentrated in the Midlands but stretches as far south as Baldock Hertfordshire and as far north as Crosby Liverpool. Six m-viron stores are wholly-owned Mainline outlets. The remainder are franchise stores. The two new sites also franchises are located in Cambridgeshire and Worcestershire.

Mainline managing director Andrew Boden refused to pinpoint the locations of the new m-viron outlets because leases have not yet been signed with the landlords.

Boden said: We plan to open two new m-viron stores before Christmas. The stores are existing dealerships. He added that Mainline are working to align with Orange to see if m-viron could fill any existing gaps in Oranges own retail coverage.

We dont want to roll the chain out to such an extent that we cant continue to provide the right level of support. According to Boden m-viron currently receives a lot of support to help it compete with the likes of CPW and Orange Retail.

DPC opens flagship

The new store has been designed with a bank of nine plasma screen TVs to highlight products and show a constantly changing marketing message.

DPC managing director Phil Rider said: Its right in the centre of the main shopping street in Norwich so weve looked to differentiate ourselves with the store layout.

Rider said that DPC was looking to increase its business connections. At present around 35 per cent of its business is B2B. Rider wants its consumer/business ratio to run closer to 50:50.

He said: Were running parallel with last year in terms of business. We initially forecast a dip this year so were very pleased.

Orange loses business services head

MacLeod has been with Orange for five years. Orange said that he had accepted a role as chief operating officer in a company outside of the telecoms industry.

MacLeod will be replaced by Cynthia Gordon vice president of marketing for the Orange Group since 2003. Gordon has 15 years of commercial telecoms experience.

An Orange spokesperson said: Cynthia is well known to Orange UK having been part of the senior management team in the early days of the directorate and for the last three years has worked across Europe.

Dextra rolls out fulfilment service

Actiweb is pitched as an alternative service to CPWs Vanilla offering. Dextra commercial sales manager Mike Gray who headed up CPWs Vanilla service will manage the operation.

Dextra sales director Angie Simpson said: The initial trials with a handful of partners have gone very well. We did pre-sales last week and dealers were queuing up.

Elite launches designer case range

Miller is better known for dressing such Hollywood stars as Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry.

The cases are handstitched using fabrics such as suede soft leather and satin and take design cues from this season of Millers sartorial creations.

3 puts screws on cash-back dealers

3 said that some dealers make it too difficult for customers to claim the money back on the contract they have been sold. It has extended the claim period to 90 days minimum.

It told dealers: Due to the increasing amount of customer queries into the contact centre and non-compliance with the previous minimum standards issued in relation to cash-back schemes we have revised our minimum business standards for all sales channels running customer cash-back offers.

In most cases cashback offers claim that customers will receive a benefit of half-price line rental but then impose unreasonably onerous conditions which have the result of denying customers the benefit advertised. This is a breach of the law and a breach of your agreement with Hutchison 3G.

Dealers can no longer withhold cashback because customers accounts arent up to date. Nor can dealers ask customers to send original bills to claim. Copies will do it said. Dealers shouldnt charge to process claims either or restrict the period in which customers can claim cash back.

Any sales channel that runs cashback offers must state clearly that it is a dealer cashback offer rather than a 3 offer and that it is based on the redemption. Dealers are also obliged to explain the cashback deal to the customer in full both verbally and in writing.

Dextra confirms only two per cent not 20 per cent may go

20:20 Mobile Group has confirmed that five roles within Dextra Solutions are at risk rather than the 20 per cent reported in the last issue of Mobile News.

A Dextra spokesman said: In an effort to allay any undue concerns the company has stressed to staff that the confirmed number of roles under review comprises only two per cent of the whole workforce at the division.