Victor Bassey will appear in court next week

The businessman was yesterday charged with fraudulent trading, possessing articles for use in fraud and obtaining services by deception.

Mr Bassey was arrested by members of Cleveland Police’s fraud investigation team in October last year.

His arrest came after concerns were raised by former employees of his company, Excelsis Airways.

Mr Bassey was charged after answering bail at Middlehaven police station, in Middlesbrough, yesterday morning.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: “A 49-year-old man has been charged with fraudulent trading, possession of articles for use in fraud and five offences of obtaining services by deception.

He is due to appear at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on May 13.”

Mr Bassey was released on bail.

Excelsis Airways collapsed in October last year after all 12 employees resigned, claiming Mr Bassey had failed to pay their wages. Plans by Excelsis to run daily flights between Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) and Heathrow had been revealed five months earlier.

The company said it wanted to offer a luxury service with chauffeur driven cars delivering passengers to the airport before a fleet of Boeing 747s whisked them to and from the South-East of England It was hoped the service would fill the gap left by bmi’s decision to axe its service to Heathrow. Mr Bassey – who claimed he was “backed by God” – later changed the plans saying Excelsis would run three flights a day from DTVA to London City Airport.

Passengers should have been able to start booking seats from September 19.

However, Mr Bassey then announced that flights would begin by the end of last year.

A number of other businesses and people have come forward claiming Mr Bassey owes them money.

These included venues and suppliers to Mr Bassey’s wedding to fiancee Comfort Awunor.

An investigation by The Northern Echo found that Mr Bassey had run a number of failed businesses across the region.