The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has warned it will not hesitate to prosecute companies and people who refuse to provide requested information in ongoing investigations.
In a warning issued on 18 July the regulator said there was a “strong public interest” in bringing a prosecution because obstruction of its investigations meant it could not properly protect pension scheme members.
It referred to section 72 of the Pension Act 2004, which allowed for an information request, and section 77 of the act, which states it is an offence to refuse to provide the relevant information. TPR also said fines available to be issued by the courts were unlimited.
The warning followed three recent prosecutions. The first two involved a solicitors’ firm and its managing partner and a charity chief executive, who failed to provide the requested documents.
The cases occurred in consecutive days in April and were the first two criminal convictions secured by the TPR.
In the first case Ashley Wilson Solicitors and managing partner Anthony Wilson refused to provide documents “without a reasonable excuse”. The documents related to a property linked to a person involved in a TPR pension scam investigation, though the solicitors and their client were not themselves under investigation.
District Judge Christopher James ordered Wilson to pay a £4,000 fine, £7,500 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge. He also ordered Ashley Wilson Solicitors to pay a £2,700 fine, £2,500 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge. TPR executed a search warrant at the firm’s offices prior to the conviction to obtain the required information.
In the second case, Yateley Industries for the Disabled chief executive Patrick McLarry refused to provide the relevant documents linked to an investigation into unusual scheme investments. He had been pursued for the information over the course of 18 months.
McLarry was convicted and ordered to pay a £2,500 fine, £4,000 in costs and a £120 victim surcharge. District Judge Christopher James said he had imposed “a significant financial penalty to reflect high culpability”. The week after his conviction McLarry provided the relevant information to the TPR.
TPR also recently convicted a former office manager at Friendly Pension for withholding information in a suspected £13.75m pension scam investigation into the firm.
Karen Turgut was ordered to pay more than £4,000 after being convicted as part of the third criminal conviction secured by the TPR.
TPR frontline regulation executive director Nicola Parish said: “Our power to require companies and individuals to provide us with information is an important tool in our regulatory case work.
“The refusal to provide specifically requested information was the simple reason for these two recent prosecutions.”
She added: “From now on we will not hesitate to prosecute further companies or individuals if they refuse to give us the right information to investigate cases and ultimately protect pension savers.”
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