Two trustees of alleged pension liberator schemes Capita Oak and the Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme have been wound up, following an investigation conducted by the Insolvency Service.
In June, FTAdviser revealed that Omni Trustees and Imperial Trustee Services were placed in provisional liquidation, and now the two trustees appointed to deal with their demise have been wound up by the High Court earlier this week.
Capita Oak and Henley had received a total of £19.4m from investors.
A total of £10.8m was transferred into Capita Oak Pension Scheme between July 2012 and September 2013 and a further £8.6m was transferred into the Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme between December 2012 and January 2014.
The Insolvency Service said that of the total sum, £13.4m was invested in storage pods.
A further £3.7m belonging to the Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme was transferred to another occupational scheme and cannot currently be accounted for.
The Insolvency Service’s investigation found that the companies and others were involved in a scheme by which members of the public were cold-called and persuaded to transfer their existing occupational pensions into either the Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme or the Capita Oak Pension Scheme.
This was on the basis of “misrepresentations” made as to an initial guaranteed rate of return, alongside a promise of an entitlement to receive 25 per cent of the fund value at age 55 and in the case of Capita Oak Pension Scheme, of a 5 per cent non-repayable ‘loan’.
Capita Oak has been the subject of numerous Pensions Ombudsman decisions; the most recent was published earlier this month.
In May, the Pensions Ombudsman also upheld a complaint against Henley for failing to comply with a transfer request out of the scheme.
The Insolvency Service also found the only investments offered to the public were storage pods marketed for sale by Store First Ltd, which paid commissions of up to 46 per cent to another company which was part of the overall scheme.
According to the report, the court heard that there was both a “lack of control” and a “lack of transparency” with regard to the operation and management of Omni and Imperial, with the former being abandoned and having no director from October 2013.
The report stated there was also “a lack of clarity” as to who was in control of Imperial.
Furthermore, there was no evidence of any administration of the Henley Retirement Benefit Scheme or the Capita Oak Pension Scheme having being carried out, despite administration fees totalling almost £1.4m having been paid to various parties.
Finally, the court heard that the guaranteed 8 per cent return on investment had not been received by either of the schemes and that an estimated £1.6m was missing.
Scott Crighton, group leader with company investigations north of the Insolvency Service, said: “The Insolvency Service will investigate and bring to a halt the activities of companies that mislead clients in this way and that are found to be operating against the public interest.
“For their own protection, members of the public need to be wary of any uninvited contact offering them a free pension review and to be aware that many of the products on offer are unregulated and high risk or may even be outright scams and so the safest course of action is to simply ignore them.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
Additional reporting by Donia O’Loughlin
