Two British companies have been linked to a multi million-pound fraud concerning a “ghost” delivery of equipment to Iraq, as part of a US investigation into how billions of dollars in reconstruction funds went missing.

The companies are named in court papers, seen by The Times, involving an American businessman who pleaded guilty in April to being part of the scam. Together, it is alleged, they received $8.5 million for dozens of armoured vehicles that were meant for the Iraqi Interior Ministry but which were never delivered.

A former British Army officer and a retired senior officer in the Metropolitan Police are both mentioned for their role in the alleged fraud.

The case is one of dozens in which American investigators are trying to determine how billions of dollars were spent in the early days of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, when money was carted around stuffed into sports bags during a period that one official described as “the Wild West”.

According to the documents, in June 2004 a British company called Zeroline was awarded a military contract to deliver 51 vehicles to Iraq for the sum of $8,480,550. US federal prosecutors say that after Zeroline was awarded the contract, it subcontracted the building and delivery of the vehicles to Alchemie Technology Group, based in London, and its subsidiary, APTx Vehicle Systems.

Benjamin Kafka, who pleaded guilty to his role in the scam, is listed on Alchemie’s website as president of its North American operations.

A month before the vehicles were meant to be delivered — in June 2005 — prosecutors allege that Zeroline and Alchemie presented false documents to JPMorgan Chase Bank in London, claiming payment for the vehicles even though they had neither been built nor handed over.

The bill of lading — a document to show that a cargo has been placed in transportation — was from a fake company called GNX Logistics, located at Kafka’s address in Massachusetts.

Alchemie’s chief executive, des-cribed as a former British Army officer, sent the false bill of lading to Kafka. “Kafka knew and permitted [the former Army officer] and others to create a false bill of lading indicating shipment and receipt of the vehicles on a business form of a non-existent entity called GNX,” court documents state.

In December 2005, US officials terminated the contract for non-performance, unaware that payment had been made six months earlier.

Zeroline’s address is given as 11 Station Road South, in Great Yarmouth. When The Times called the offices of Zeroline, a woman said that there was no one available. Subsequent calls went unanswered. The address is a shabby, sprawling bungalow and is thought to belong to a Peter Tarrant and his wife. One neighbour said that Mr Tarrant had “not been around for a while — I heard that he was in Dubai for several months last year”.

Calls to the offices of Alchemie in London were referred to Simon Ratcliffe, a solicitor from Greene and Greene, based in Suffolk. He said that he could not comment on whether his clients were being investigated in America or any other aspect of the claims.

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