The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has ordered a former company director to repay over £9.7m into the Uniway Systems Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme and the Genwick Limited Retirement Benefit Scheme, following an investigation by its Pensions Dishonesty Unit (PDU).

The deputy ombudsman concluded that the schemes were established with the primary intention of channelling money into specific, predetermined investments, and that, by facilitating this arrangement, Ecroignard and former director, Ankur Vijaykumar Shroff, failed to invest the schemes’ funds for a proper purpose, with Schroff found to be a dishonest accessory to multiple breaches of trust.

Shroff, who was an experienced investment and asset manager with over 10 years' experience at a UK authorised firm, invested £13.5m of the schemes’ funds into high risk, overseas investments in his capacity as sole director of Ecroignard.

There were also "significant" conflicts of interest as the individuals that set up the schemes and introduced individuals to the schemes had direct economic interests in the eventual investments.

Concerns around the scheme were raised with TPO after some members became worried about a lack of information around investment performance, and an inability to take benefits from the schemes or transfer their funds.

Given the nature of the investments and a lack of clarity from the schemes’ administrators, this triggered an investigation by TPO's PDU, which found that there was a network of regulated and unregulated introducers arranging transfers into the schemes.

As a result, the deputy ombudsman, Anthony Arter, ordered Shroff to personally repay £9,776,035.99 into the schemes for the benefit of all members, and to pay each applicant £5,000 in recognition of the exceptional distress and inconvenience each has suffered.

The determination is final and binding, subject to appeal to the High Court on a point of law, and information obtained during the investigation has also been passed on to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Fraud Compensation Fund.

TPO highlighted the case as demonstration of the importance of pension scheme members being cautious when transferring their pensions and being aware of the risks of pension scams and dishonest behaviour.

This marks the latest in a number of higher profile cases handled by TPO's PDU, which was launched in 2022 to help investigate allegations of serious breaches of trust, misappropriation of pension funds and dishonest or fraudulent behaviour by pension scheme trustees.

Indeed, the PDU previously issued directions to recover a total of nearly £13m after an investigation revealed multiple breaches of trust and acts of maladministration, as well as ordering a former sole trustee of the scheme and Chess Grandmaster to repay over £730,000 following a separate investigation.

---