Catalytic converter sales millionaire on the run

A businessman fled to Lithuania after making £4.3m from illegally trading in catalytic converters and is still on the run, a court heard.

Edvars Stancik, who was director of Platinum Group Metals Recycling Ltd which was based in Spalding, Lincolnshire, was found guilty of multiple charges in his absence after he failed to attend his trial at Lincoln Crown Court in September 2024.

He traded catalytic converters on a large scale between December 2019 and September 2021 through the company.

An arrest warrant was issued for Stancik and his case was adjourned for investigators to pursue his financial assets but a proceeds of crime hearing on Friday was told he had still not been arrested.

Recorder John Hardy KC told the court Stancik, formerly of St Thomas Court, Long Sutton, had "decamped from the country after illegally selling catalytic converters without the required authorisation".

The court heard investigators found a likely address for the 31-year-old in Lithuania but he failed to respond. However, extradition proceedings had not begun and the Environment Agency was trying to recover the costs of their inquiry via assets seized from his company.

Recorder Hardy ruled Stancik reaped £4.3m from his criminal activity with his company benefiting from a similar amount.

The court heard assets of nearly £500,000 were available from the company made up of cash in the firm's bank account and seized catalytic converters.

Stancik's only asset is £30,934 from equity in a house he sold before his trial, the court was told.

The judge ordered those amounts to be confiscated and ruled more than £100,000 should be paid to the agency in compensation to cover the costs of their investigation.

He said the businessman was likely to face a custodial sentence when arrested and future applications could be made to seize more assets if they were available.

According to the agency, Stancik stored the car parts at his home address and at containers in Lime Walk, Long Sutton. The devices were "stored in an irresponsible manner giving rise to an unacceptable risk to human health".

The agency's investigation found Stancik and his company had been buying large quantities of catalytic converters and sold at least 71 tonnes of them for recycling.

Many of them were found "damaged, exposing their dangerous innards" following a search of his premises.

Stancik pleaded not guilty to four environmental offences including two counts of causing a company to operate a regulated facility without the necessary authorisation and two of causing a company to commit an offence.

Platinum Group Metals Recycling Ltd denied charges of operating two waste sites in Long Sutton without the required permits and two counts of storing waste at the same premises without a permit and in a manner likely to cause harm to human health.

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