THE boss of a North-East bio-fuels company under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office has spoken about his confidence in the future of the business.

Director Ray Johnson yesterday described the future of Worldwide Bio Refineries (WBR) as promising, despite the likelihood of the company being placed into administrat-ion.

He said WBR was months away from producing biodiesel at its factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and was making tens of thousands of tonnes of the green fuel at its larger plant in Singapore.

The Northern Echo reported last week that international accountancy and advisory group Mazars had lodged a petition to have WBR placed into administration.

The court hearing is in London tomorrow.

Mr Johnson said the move would allow WBR to be restructured and secure the finances to take the company forward with its plans to produce 400,000 tonnes of biodiesel at three plants.

"Going into administration is another part of a process which the directors and investors hope will lead to recovery of the business," he said.

WBR operates a 350,000-tonne biodiesel plant in Singapore, which is running below capacity, and is in the final stages of commissioning a 40,000-tonne factory in India.

He also said that its 40,000-tonne plant on the Heighington Lane Business Park, in Newton Aycliffe, was expected to be operational before the end of the year.

WBR is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office after claims that shares in the company were sold through unregulated brokers as part of a so-called boiler room operation.

Investors contacted the Serious Fraud Squad after buying thousands of pounds-worth of shares in WBR from several brokers not regulated by the Financial Services Authority, including Anderson Consultants and Allied Advisory.

Mr Johnson was unable to talk in detail about the investigation but described it as "all talk and no action".

"They have found nothing here," he said.

"We will just continue with what we are doing.

"We are 70 per cent there to making this work. WBR has built and commissioned biodiesel plants with an annual capacity of about 400,000 tonnes - when you read about plans to have a five per cent bio-content in diesel (B5), that capacity is sufficient to help produce eight billion litres of B5 diesel at the pump.

"Whatever the rights and wrongs of the fundraising of £8m, WBR used its investors' funds to create that potential."

WBR uses inedible, crude palm oil to produce its biodiesel, but has also invested in the planting of 40,000 hectares of Jatropha crop - the feedstock used by rival D1 Oils.