THE firm tasked with the ambitious redevelopment of the North Star site is facing a date in the High Court within weeks.

Winding up petitions have been brought before the court by creditors who have failed to secure outstanding debts through other avenues.

But Moirai Capital Investments, which is facing the possibility that the court will order it to begin the liquidation of its assets to ensure those creditors are paid, says it is all due to a delay in filling out VAT returns.

Just this week, the firm, which has come under fire for failing to submit its accounts many months after they were due, issued a statement claiming it is confident the North Star development would be a success.

The first court action, brought by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs against the Swindon-specific arm of Moirai, will be heard in the High Court on December 12.

The following day, a court in Leeds will consider a claim by a Manchester based construction firm for outstanding debts owed by Moirai’s main business.

These court proceedings follow in the wake of previous serious legal trouble for the firm.

In 2014, its shell company MW Contract Services, formerly known as Oasis Operations Ltd, went into liquidation owing some £850,000 to creditors.

That case came about just a year after Moirai was awarded a 99-year lease from Swindon Borough Council to redevelop the site surrounding the Oasis leisure complex.

These latest revelations about the troubled firm come almost a week after Swindon’s Labour group called on the council to cut their ties with Moirai amid claims it had breached its development deal for the second time.

Speaking after details of the upcoming court cases were revealed, the group’s spokesman for leisure, Coun Jim Robbins, said: “This must be the final nail in the coffin for Moirai.

“They can’t keep the long-term lease on the Oasis site when they are consistently failing to meet the targets they’ve been set by the council and are now being petitioned to ‘wind up’ due to debts they owe.

“The council should now be looking for a new partner, who has a track record of delivering on developments, to take over the running of this site.

“After nearly four years of broken promises and hundreds of thousands of pounds owed, the Swindon public will rightly expect the council to act and end this sorry affair.”

A council spokesman said: “We are aware of these winding up petitions and we have raised the matter with Moirai.

“We will be holding further discussions with Moirai in the coming days and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

A Moirai spokesman said yesterday: “Due to a bereavement, our accountant was delayed in filing our VAT returns.

“HMRC requested an adjournment to the courts so that sufficient time was provided to us to get returns in order for Moirai Capital Investments (Swindon) Limited.

“The account has been settled with the courts’ systems to be updated in due course to reflect this.

“In relation to Moirai Capital Investments Limited, we are still engaged with the petitioner to settle out of court or we will attend to request an adjournment.

“We assure you we are in full cooperation with the relevant parties and this has no direct impact with the development at North Star.”