Fourteen companies involved in unauthorised money lending have been wound up by the High Court.

All were controlled by the same man, Dharm Prakash Gopee, and two – Pangold Estate, and Agni Estates – had estate agency type names, described on Companies House as managers of residential property.

Investigations by the Insolvency Service found that of the 14 companies, only one had ever possessed a consumer credit licence permitting it to operate as a lender – and that had been revoked in 2013.

The unlicensed companies lent to members of the public at high interest rates, secured against the borrowers’ homes, and brought “numerous” court cases to take possession of properties belonging to borrowers who fell behind with payments.

The Insolvency Service said that paperwork provided to customers was confusing and unclear and some were required to sign a declaration waiving their rights under the Consumer Credit Act. This was described as “distressing” by the Court who confirmed that an individual could not waive their rights under that Act.

Gopee’s companies are also said to have regularly filed false and misleading accounts at Companies House, claiming to be dormant when in fact they had substantial active loan books.

Gopee was disqualified as a director on May 5 last year for 15 years, the maximum period of disqualification available, and followed the compulsory liquidation of one of his firms and subsequent Insolvency Service investigation into the company’s affairs.

In his judgement, Deputy Registrar Prentice found that the companies were involved in “unauthorised lending”, that they were incapable of carrying on business in a “transparent manner” and had engaged in “wholesale abuse of the company accounting system”.

He noted that the companies never had any employees other than Gopee despite company letters signed by “Nigel Coombes” and “H Glover, manager for legal services who were Mr Gopee under another name”.

The Financial Conduct Authority is currently taking criminal action against Gopee, 68, who is due to stand trial on five charges at Southwark Crown Court on January 15. He denies the allegations.