THE most high-profile director of Orb is due in crown court on May 11, where a judge will hear of an alleged £7.8 million fraud in the final months before the company collapsed.

Gerald Smith, whose Orb business empire spread to Poole from the late 1990s until 2003, is one of three men facing charges following a lengthy investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Orb bought the world-famous Poole Pottery and constructed the Dolphin Quays apartments and retail complex on the quay.

It had other interests in the town, including proposed schemes to develop the Quay Thistle Hotel, the Old Orchard office block and to bring the Guildhall back to life as a public building.

But the business empire crumbled under crippling debts in 2003 before construction of Dolphin Quays had been completed.

The Dolphin Quays project and Poole Pottery went into administration, although both were later rescued by new owners.

Mr Smith, who lives in Jersey, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, counterfeiting and theft, and is due to appear at Reading crown court today, having surrendered his passport as part of previous bail conditions.

Jarlath Vahey is also charged with conspiracy to defraud and theft.

It is alleged £7.8 million was stolen from the failed technology company Izodia after a deception involving opening a bank account with Royal Bank of Scotland International.

The alleged offences are said to have been committed between July and November 2002.

A third man, former Orb chairman Peter Catto, has also been charged in connection with the fraud case and is due to appear in court this morning, alongside Mr Smith and Mr Vahey, for a plea and directions hearing.

First published: May 11