Neither the lawyers nor auditors, nor company executives will give Chris Johnson any information about the bankrupt parent and the related demise of Cayman’s Hadsphaltic construction giant. His fuse is running short.

One of the men at the top of the pyramid, former Conservative Deputy Chairman and major party donor Lord Ashcroft, denies any connection with Hadsphaltic’s Johnston International Ltd (JIL) parent, despite his name appearing in related documents and loans to the company by his Turks and Caicos-based British Caribbean Bank (BCB).

The story starts with Oxford Ventures, a British Virgin Islands-based company with a plethora of subsidiaries, including Johnston; loans by Lord Ashcroft’s British Caribbean Bank, also established in Belize; and the Chief Executive Officer, Allan Forrest, of Hadsphaltic, Oxford Ventures and JIL, which Ashcroft owned until 1999 and collapsed in 2010.

“Even the major London law firm that represents BCB Holdings the parent company of the two banks and Oxford Ventures refuse to respond to my emails,” Mr Johnson told iNews Cayman on Monday.

“I have written to the directors of the two banks,” in which Ashcroft owns a 70% share, “and there has been no response. This is totally unheard of. I have been in practice for 30 years,” Mr Johnson said.

The financial sleuthing reaches across four territories and a maze of interlocked companies, with Hadsphaltic almost a bit player in the welter of crosscurrents.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson just wants to know where the $40 million went — bad contracts and loan repayments play a role, but “the black hole”, Johnston International Ltd, stands mute at the centre of the maelstrom.

Full report to follow