The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has confirmed that ex-Norton Motorcycles boss, Stuart Garner, is set to appear in court on Monday 7 February on illegal pension investment charges.

Garner is accused of illegally investing money from three pension schemes, for which he was the sole trustee, into his own business.

He will face charges of breaching Employer-Related Investment (ERI) rules through investing more than 5 per cent of assets from each scheme into Norton Motorcycle Holdings Ltd.

The alleged offences are in relation to three defined contribution schemes: Dominator 2012, Commando 2012 and Donington MC, which had a total of 227 scheme members.

The investments, which were made in return for preference shares, were made between 2012 and 2013.

The Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 set out in Regulation 12 (2) that, subject to certain exceptions, it is a criminal offence to invest more than 5 per cent of the market value of scheme resources in ERIs.

Garner is being prosecuted with three separate alleged ERI offences under section 40(5) of the Pensions Act 1995, one in relation to each scheme.

He is due to appear at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 7 February at 12pm.

In June 2020, the Work and Pensions Committee wrote to TPR with further questions on its plan of action following the "shocking" case, after The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) upheld a complaint from affected members and Dalriada Trustees.

In its decision, TPO ordered the former director to repay all the money he had invested into his own firm from the company pension schemes, with Garner subsequently denied permission to appeal the £14m pension scheme repayment.

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