An accountant has been charged with deliberately providing false information to The Pensions Regulator (TPR), after allegedly claiming that the employer he was working for had put staff into a workplace pension scheme.

Hashmukh Shah, 63, of Richmond, Surrey, is accused of knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to TPR.

It is alleged that Shah informed TPR that staff at London-based Gran Caffe Londra, run by Primadell Ltd, had been enrolled into a workplace pension scheme when he knew this was incorrect.

TPR claims he misled them to evade an upcoming inspection that would have unearthed the employer’s failure to enrol their staff in a workplace pension.

Deliberately providing false information to TPR about compliance with automatic enrolment duties is punishable under Section 80 of the Pensions Act 2004, with up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

It is the first time that a third party working for an employer has been charged by the TPR for this offence.

Shah is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates Court on 15 August 2018.

Share Story: