The Pensions Regulator has secured a second criminal conviction in a matter of days against a head of a charity who has been ordered to pay £6,500.

Patrick McLarry, the chief executive of Hampshire-based Yateley Industries for the Disabled Limited, was convicted for refusing to give information linked to an investigation into unusual scheme investments to the regulator.

It follows the announcement from the regulator, yesterday 5 April, that it had secured its first criminal conviction against a solicitor, and the law firm he works at, for failing to hand over documents it had requested as part of an investigation into a scam pension scheme.

McLarry, a former trustee of the charity’s pension fund, was issued with an information notice for the documents in July 2015. He refused to supply them, claiming that as the documents contained third party information, supplying them would be a breach of French privacy law. The bank statements requested were from a French bank account in the name of McLarry and his wife that McLarry had access to.

In addition, McLarry also said that the bank statements were protected by legal privilege, and subsequently claimed that he was refusing to provide them on the basis that they might incriminate him. TPR decided that the failure to hand over the documents was sufficiently serious that it merited the prosecution McLarry.

He pleaded not guilty to refusing to produce, without reasonable excuse, documents required under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004, which is an offence under section 77 of the Act, but he was convicted of the offence at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 5 April 2017. As part of the case the regulator engaged an expert in French law to give evidence on its behalf, following which the court agreed that McLarry had been wrong not to comply with the information notice.

Finding McLarry guilty and ordering him to pay a £2,500 fine, £4,000 costs, and a £120 victim surcharge, District Judge Christopher James said he had imposed a significant financial penalty to reflect high culpability. The harm caused by his actions was unknown but the consequent elongation of TPR’s investigation has caused delay and an increase in costs.

He also commented that TPR carries out a very important regulatory function and section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004 is an important investigative tool for TPR.

Commenting on the outcome, TPR executive director for frontline regulation Nicola Parish said: “Patrick McLarry refused to co-operate with TPR staff and gave a number of excuses which were rejected by the court. This was a clear case of him deliberately refusing to comply with the law.

“Legal action could have been avoided if Mr McLarry had simply complied with the legal notice. This is another example of how we will use our powers to take action against individuals who hamper our investigations into the management of pension schemes. Refusing to comply with a legal request from The Pensions Regulator will not be tolerated.”

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