The company director of a target sports centre has denied fraudulently evading his pension duties, pleading not guilty at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday (4 May 2023).

Lee Bartholomew was accused of fraudulently deducting money from the salaries of employees of 1066 Target Sports Ltd as contributions towards the company’s occupational pension scheme, and not paying it to the schemes within the prescribed period.

However, Bartholomew denied the charge of fraudulently deducting money from employees’ salaries and not paying it into the company’s pension scheme within a prescribed period.

Bartholomew also pleaded not guilty to a charge of failure to provide information requested under Sections 72 and 77 of the Pensions Act 2004.

Employers who deduct pension contributions from employees are under a duty to pay those contributions to a pension scheme within a prescribed period under Section 49(8) of the Pensions Act 1995. Under Section 49(11), it is a criminal offence to fraudulently evade that duty.

A plea and trial preparation hearing was fixed for 1 June 2023 at Lewes Crown Court.

This is the latest in a number of prosecutions brought by TPR, following the successful prosecution of a number of former pension scheme trustees across a multiple cases last year, with another case relating to illegal pension investments still ongoing.

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