Lycamobile
Mobile virtual network operator
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| December 2024 | Lycamobile announced potential redundancies for up to 316 UK staff, reducing their workforce to 48, following losses of over £25 million in the 2021/22 tax year and conflicts with HM Revenue and Customs over unpaid VAT bills of up to £51 million. |
| November 2024 | Lycamobile in North Macedonia was bought by MTEL |
| August 2024 | HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) filed winding-up petitions for three Lycamobile companies in the United Kingdom. |
| July 2024 | CEO Richard Schäfer and CFO Nikos Paraskevopoulos left the company amid the ongoing tax evasion crisis. |
| July 2024 | A tax tribunal ruled in favour of HMRC on a long-running £51 million VAT dispute. |
| January 9 2024 | Lycamobile closed operations in South Africa |
| 2023 | Lycamobile partnered with EE in the United Kingdom |
| December 31 2023 | Lycamobile closed operations in Romania |
| October 2023 | Lycamobile's French companies were convicted of VAT and money laundering fraud, with a potential fine of €10 million, subject to appeal. |
| October 26 2023 | French court issued a ruling finding Lycamobile guilty of knowingly participating in a money laundering system, resulting in a €10m fine and three-year suspended prison sentences for key executives Chris Tooley and Alain Jochimek. |
| October 6 2023 | Lycamobile released an official statement informing customers about the cyber attack and subsequent data leak, which exposed copies of passports, identity cards, and proof of address documents. |
| September 30 2023 | Lycamobile experienced a global service disruption in most countries, excluding the US and Ukraine, which was later identified as a cyber attack. |
| May 2023 | The Indian Enforcement Directorate raided Lyca Productions offices, uncovering evidence of potential financial irregularities involving loans and investments made by Pettigo Commercio Internacional LDA into the Kallal Group. The investigation provisionally attached Rs70 Crore, with total suspected proceeds of crime estimated at Rs300 Crore. |
| May 19 2023 | Lyca Radio was found in breach of Ofcom regulations for failing to deliver local news, which the company attributed to the departure of its local news journalist. |
| February 2023 | Lycamobile's auditors reported being unable to obtain sufficient audit evidence regarding £18 million in loans, with an additional £169 million of complex debt within related companies. The company also faced a £100 million demand over alleged VAT irregularities. |
| January 2023 | Okokrim, the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, sentenced two individuals to over two years in prison for their role in the tax evasion scheme involving Lycamobile and Lycatel. |
| 2022 | Lycatel Services Limited's audited accounts showed employee loan receivables of over £2 million, with auditors unable to obtain sufficient evidence about the recoverability of these loans. |
| 2022 | Lycamobile ended operations with t2 in Russia |
| March 2022 | Thames Quay Properties Holdings filed 2022 accounts in March, revealing a £30 million loss and a £16 million zero-interest unsecured loan to Prema Subaskaran, wife of Subaskaran Allirajah. |
| December 31 2021 | Lycamobile reported a £105.5m provision to address potential VAT dispute with HM Revenue and Customs, with auditor PKF Littlejohn LLP qualifying their audit opinion due to concerns over related party balances. |
| May 2021 | Lycamobile Germany was renamed Amalasandan Dienstleistungen GmbH and subsequently filed for insolvency, with minimal assets available for tax recovery. |
| February 2021 | The Federal Finance Court in Germany ruled that Lycamobile Germany had not paid €70m in sales taxes, following a lengthy investigation. |
| 2020 | Audited financial accounts reveal significant related party loans, including £45.240m loaned to Lycamobile UK Limited and £24m to Thames Quay Properties Holdings Limited by Mr. Allirajah and his wife. Three senior employees (A S Premananthan, M A Malique, and C Tooley) also received zero interest loans of £3.329m each from WWW Holding Company Limited. |
| 2020 | Lycamobile partnered with Tangerine Ltd in Uganda |
| 2019 | Private dinner between Boris Johnson and Subaskaran Allirajah in an attempt to gain more political funding ahead of the General Election, which led to the Labour Party describing Johnson as 'unfit' to be prime minister. |
| 2019 | Lyca Group acquired EAP Broadcasting Company, a major entertainment company in Sri Lanka, for $72 million. |
| 2019 | Lycamobile began operations with t2 in Russia |
| November 2018 | Lyca Productions released 2.0, India's most expensive film with a budget of US$75 million. |
| April 6 2018 | Lycamobile suspended its services in Hong Kong. |
| 2017 | Lycamobile partnered with 3mob in Ukraine and Cell C in South Africa |
| April 2017 | KPMG resigned as auditors for Lycamobile UK Limited, citing difficulties in obtaining sufficient audit evidence due to the company's governance structure and internal control systems. |
| March 2017 | Lycamobile launched Lycalotto, a lottery syndicate platform providing access to international lottery draws in the UK and Ireland, including previously inaccessible lotteries like the US Powerball. |
| 2016 | External audit was conducted on Lycamobile Germany regarding tax payments, which found irregularities but did not resolve the tax issue. |
| 2016 | End of the period of tax evasion scheme involving Lycamobile and Lycatel in Norway. |
| 2016 | Lycamobile established presence in North Macedonia |
| 2016 | Nearly twenty Lyca Mobile employees were arrested in France, with approximately half of them charged with money laundering. |
| 2016 | Company reached over 15 million customers worldwide. |
| June 2016 | French police conducted widespread arrests related to financial crimes, making 19 arrests and seizing €1m in raids on Lycamobile's Paris headquarters and various addresses. |
| May 5 2016 | Lycamobile Ireland Limited was found guilty in the Dublin District Court for failing to comply with a ComReg information request. The company was fined €3000 and ordered to pay ComReg's legal costs. The information request was related to a review of wholesale telecommunications market access. |
| 2015 | Donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party, continuing their pattern of significant political contributions. |
| 2015 | Lycamobile filed accounts seven months late, after being threatened with being struck off by Companies House. The company set aside £9.5 million to cover potential unpaid tax liabilities, including interest and penalties. |
| 2015 | Buzzfeed published an expose revealing potential financial irregularities at Lycamobile, which prompted an investigation by French authorities. |
| 2015 | Lyca TV launched as an online over-the-top (OTT) ethnic entertainment provider, available in 20 countries and nine languages, primarily targeting major expat communities worldwide. |
| 2015 | Lycagroup launched Lycaremit, a money transfer service that enables users to send money internationally. |
| 2015 | Lycamobile started partnership with Telekom in Romania and Tunisie Télécom in Tunisia |
| April 2015 | Lycamobile began offering services in Hong Kong. |
| 2013 | Lyca Radio was launched after acquiring radio frequencies previously operated by Sunrise Radio, offering two stations: Lyca Radio and Lyca Gold. |
| 2013 | Lycamobile began operations with A1 Telekom in Austria and T-Mobile in the United States |
| 2012 | Lycamobile was threatened with being struck off, potentially related to their political connections. The company also donated use of a call centre to Boris Johnson during his London mayoral election campaign. |
| 2012 | Lycamobile partnered with 3 in Ireland and Vodafone in Portugal |
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