The Pensions Regulator has secured its first criminal conviction against a solicitor and the law firm he is a partner at, for refusing to provide information.

The regulator first contacted Anthony Wilson, managing partner at London-based Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP, regarding documents relating to a property linked to an individual who was involved in a TPR pension scam investigation in June 2015.

Neither Wilson nor Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP was connected with the investigation and there was no suggestion that their staff had done anything wrong in their dealings with the property.

The regulator issued a notice to Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP requiring that information be provided to its staff. However, the firm claimed that it was having trouble obtaining the documents, as they were stored at a separate site. Shortly afterwards, Wilson confirmed that he had located the documents, and would provide them to TPR, but did not do so.

Despite TPR staff making numerous requests for the information, it was only when they entered the offices of Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP in Ives Street, Knightsbridge, with a search warrant in March 2016 that the documents were secured, ending nine months of pursuing Wilson and the firm for the documents.

TPR decided that the failure to hand over the documents was so serious that it merited the criminal prosecution of both Mr Wilson and his company – the first time TPR has taken such action.

As a result, at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Tuesday 4 April, both Wilson and Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP pleaded guilty to refusing to provide documents required under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004 without a reasonable excuse, which is an offence under section 77 of the Act.

Sentencing them, District Judge Christopher James said that information notices were an important enforcement tool for TPR that had been used appropriately in the case. He commented upon the lack of corporate governance at Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP and said there were insufficient “checks and balances” operated between the partners.

The judge ordered Wilson to pay a £4,000 fine, £7,500 costs and a £120 victim surcharge. He ordered Ashley Wilson Solicitors LLP to pay a £2,700 fine, £2,500 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

Commenting, TPR executive director of frontline regulation Nicola Parish said: “Our staff received a series of woeful excuses rather than the information they had requested. This was a case of the company refusing to comply with the law.

“Legal action could have been avoided if Mr Wilson or someone else at the firm had simply handed over the documents, as they should have done, because the information had already been retrieved from storage.

“As the court recognised, information notices are a key enforcement tool for TPR. We will not hesitate to prosecute those who prevent us gathering the vital data we need for our investigations. Refusing to comply with a legal request from The Pensions Regulator will not be tolerated.”

Share Story: