An in depth investigation conducted by GMP’s Economic Crime Unit discovered that a man acting as a Primary Pensions Administratortook money out of a fund resulting in a loss of £238,000 pounds
David Parker of Firbank Road, Manchester pleaded guilty to Fraud by False Representation and Money Laundering and was sentenced to 28 months in jail at Manchester Crown Court
The hearing herad how Parker worked for a trustee company since 2003, having two short breaks in his employment.
At the end of his time with the company he held the position of Primary Pensions Administrator, where he was responsible for overseeing the administration of pension schemes, preparation of accounts, and dealing with banking activities and was authorised to transfer the benefits of pension schemes.
He had authority to make payments from the scheme bank accounts and had access to the online banking and would have had access to a number of accounts.
In 2015, Parker was asked to ‘wind up’ a pension scheme which related to around 50 employees who all have small pension pots from the 1990’s. The employer that it related to had gone out of business and it was likely that many of those entitled to this benefit may not know that it existed.
Whilst winding up this scheme, Parker should have sent out a letter to each member of the scheme to ask what they would like to do with their investment. The members had the options of taking a ‘wind up lump sum’ transferring the benefits to another eligible pension scheme or to have the benefits transferred into a new personal pension contract. Only around one third of the members responded to these letters in relation to what they wanted to do.
In August 2020, Parker resigned from the company suddenly.
In February 2021 an independent financial advisor contacted the company enquiring about the pension scheme on behalf of one of the members of it. The member was approaching retirement age and was trying to locate where her pension benefits were held.
The company could see that there was a payment that appeared to be paid to her however it was for a different amount than what was expected. Also this member had not returned one of the letters as expected.
From further enquiries between the company and a bank, it was shown that 65 transactions had been made to a number of bank accounts linked to Parker.The total loss to the company was £238,128.55.
Parker was subsequently arrested in December 2021 on suspicion of Fraud by Abuse of Position and Money Laundering,
Detective Constable Clara Williams of GMP’s Complex Fraud Team in the Economic Crime Unit, said: “Today’s sentencing is a great result for the unit.
“This was a meticulous and fraudulent offence from a man who abused his job role and the trust and responsibility that came with it.
“It demonstrates our commitment to tackling fraud and money laundering– that they have no place in our community. If you commit these offences, we will pursue you and bring you to justice.
