Market gossip spoke of suspicious share sales around the time of a

Market gossip spoke of suspicious share sales around the time of a supposed Vivendi approach.But this was not a new phenomenon for Scoot or its executives. The DTI is understood to have looked into share trades by Mr Bonnier, while he was at Swiss Bank Corporation One of the companies was said to be Mr Regan’s Hobson. And investigators are also said to have looked at trading by Mr Bonnier and Mr Zimet in the shares of Scoot itself.Even the company’s beginnings were controversial. In 1996, when it was known as Freepages, it obtained a stock market listing by reversing into a tiny builders’ merchant called, rather ominously, Blagg.

Suspicious share trading ahead of the activity led to the first DTI investigation, although no one was charged with any offence. Separately, Owen Oysten, the former Blackpool FC chairman jailed for raping a 16-year-old girl, became an investor while awaiting trial.With such an unusual history, it is not surprising the DTI wants to entertain Mr Regan’s lawyers to try to glean more information on the company. But Scoot has hit back against all allegations, and claimed a “dirty tricks” campaign, orchestrated by Mr Regan. And Mr Bonnier and Mr Zimet have denied any wrongdoing, although it was not possible to contact them last week for further comment.

Followers of the Scoot story will have to wait some time before they can decide who are the heroes and who are the villains.Such questions are not uppermost in the minds of long-suffering shareholders. Aside from the company’s worrying cash position, they could be sitting on massive losses. If an investor had put £1,000 into Scoot in March, he or she would now have only £5 left. The company is currently valued at under £20m, some distance from arch rival Yell, which includes the Yellow Pages business, sold for £2bn in May.Now Scoot has new management, led by John Molyneux, who is heading an attempt to save the company and then put it on the slow road to recovery. “The game isn’t over yet,” he told The Independent on Sunday.