THE Metropolitan Police is investigating an alleged stock market scam offering private investors “instant riches” from bogus military contracts.

Longden Logistics, which claims to have struck multi-million-pound contracts in the UK and Iraq, has been offering investors the chance to participate in a share offering. The company’s website lists impressive credentials and a heavyweight board of directors.

Longden Logistics lists a head office address in Albemarle Street in Mayfair, central London. This turns out to be a “virtual” office with an operator forwarding calls to a Dr Bradley J. Parke, Longden’s managing director and chief executive officer.

Dr Parke holds himself out to be a former managing partner in Accenture, the consultancy. However, the firm has never heard of him. His biographical details are a near mirror-image of David Anderson, a former Accenture partner who joined the board of Industri-Matematik International, a software company.

Mr Anderson’s details appear to have been lifted almost word for word from the IMI website. Other “directors” include a certain Hans Stiel, Longden’s director of research and development. Mr Stiel’s details are identical to those of Hans Hess, a director of Leica Geosystems, a Swiss mapping company.

Companies House has no record of a company called Longden Logistics.

Longden claims to have signed a $9.8 million of logistics contract with USAid, the agency overseeing reconstruction work in Iraq. USAid said it had no record of any such contract.

Investors told The Times that they have been approached by a Peter French, claiming to represent Longden Logistics. He invites them to invest in a private placing at $3 a share, with a promise that the share price will hit $5 by March 2005. The minimum subscription is £5,000.

The Albemarle Street service is run by a company called Base 4 Business, which forwards letters, faxes and calls in return for a fee. No one could be reached for comment at Longden yesterday.