The former president Andrew Meeson and Peter Bradley were both found guilty of the conspiracy which centred on two pension schemes administered by their company, Tudor Capital Management (website available here).
HM Revenue & Customs said in a statement that its investigators found between June 2007 and March 2010 that the pair received income tax repayments amounting to £5m. The Revenue said both claimed this money was a refund due on £20m of contributions that pension scheme members had made, however the investigators found these contributions did not exist.
Simon De Kayne, assistant director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: “This was blatant theft from the UK economy by people who exploited their positions of trust and authority. This prosecution reinforces our effectiveness in the crackdown to uncover and bring before the courts those involved in tax evasion and fraud.”
Meeson and Bradley were arrested in 2010 in dawn raids carried out by HMRC officers investigating the multi-million pound fraud. The raids took place at residential and business premises in the West Midlands and Derby.
In addition, a trustee of the pension fund, Steven Price, pleaded guilty to obtaining documents by deception, and was given an 18 month prison sentence – suspended for two years.
Confiscation proceedings to reclaim the crime profits are now underway.
