01516680386

I have just stumbled upon this after looking for information about the QROPS scheme in New Zealand that my parents joined up to a couple of years ago. Is this scam involving Capita Oak connected to Evergreen in New Zealand??

My parents went through this firm: http://www.evergreentrust.co.nz/
They are apparently a registered financial services provider with the government in NZ, and administered by the large NZ firm Trustee Executors. I have been looking for information in recent weeks as it appears that Evergreen has been - and remains - suspended by the UK government since Nov 2012: http://www.evergreentrust.co.nz/uk-pension-transfers/

If this is a great big scam, I am now deeply worried for my parents. Anyone heard of Evergreen in relation to Capita Oak?

Thanks, Harrison

Am afraid this is all connected.  After Ward's pension liberations were scuppered in 2011 (Ark), he moved on to Evergreen NZ QROPS with accompanying 50% Marazion loans.  Evergreen was taken off the QROPS list in 2012 Ward moved on to a whole series of new scams, including Capita Oak and Westminster.  Evergreen has 41% "missing" in the Penrich and Spectrum funds - because these were used to pay the Marazion loans (50% pension liberation). So after paying a 10% fee to Ward, and losing a further 41% there won't be enough to repay the loans.  Evergreen is also performing dismally so there may well be more losses.  Am preparing complaints to the Ombudsman as we speak for negligent ceding providers in the wake of last month's PO's determinations.

Wow. Thank you very much for this information. I will now get in touch with our family lawyer. What utter b*stards.

What would be the justification of moving someones pension to new zealand of all places? Hardly a renowned financial centre?

Its now their permanent residence.

Aha, only for people living in nz.. my bad. Sorry!

If you or your parents are now based permanently in NZ you could talk to the auditors and ask when the Penrich and Spectrum reports are due out and what they are doing to chase them up.  If you haven't got a copy of the Evergreen annual report showing the "unaccounted for" 41% drop me an email angiebrooks99@gmail.com and I will send you a copy and explain how the Marazion scam worked.

The accountants did not get a valuation on this one too?

Karl Dunlop was a partner member of:

ASHTON ABBOTT ACCOUNTANTS AND BUSINESS ADVISORS LLP (OC347963) from 2009 to 2011
The two other members were a professional services company and James Hadley.

Date of Incorporation: 14/08/2009
Dissolved 29/03/2011

That shows KD having a connection with James Hadley going back way before his appointment as a director of Imperial, and as  Hadley later appointed and removed nominees to Imperial it wouldn't be illogical to suggest he probably appointed Dunlop. Better to have someone you can trust.

Yes and no.  They managed to value 59% but neither Penrich nor Spectrum would publish their annual report so they stuck that in at "fair value".  The auditors were kosher I believe (Ernst & Young) but we always knew it was going to be difficult for Evergreen Retirement Trust to explain the P&S bit, so in the end they just left it out altogether.  A bit like Downs and the Metis Law/Thurlstone transactions.  If something is fraudulent, just pretend it doesn't exist.

Interesting use of the word "trust".

Talking of trust, Downs has repeatedly claimed there was no connection between Capita Oak and Westminster/ITSL.  And repeatedly stated ITSL was not the Administrator.  Be good to have a bit more explanation from Downs because the lost millions in Westminster went sent to Stone Circle by Global Trustees Pension Services Ltd (in excess of 3 million quid) and was being operated by Ward, Salih, Fowler and Duffel.  The directors of GTPS were Karen Burton's husband Richard and Sarah Duffel.  GTPS is registered to Downs' office at North Street Bromley.  http://companycheck.co.uk/company/07951756/GL ... #people-summary

Answers on a postcard Mr. Downs - and something other than "she is TOTALLY WRONG and all based on THEORY" would be good this time.

Many thanks, I just downloaded both annual reports from their site and I can see the exposure to Penrich and Spectrum that you talk of, along with the qualified auditors report. That in itself rings alarm bells - fancy a pension scheme not being able to achieve an unqualified audit!  Now I'm going to look into this Simon Swallow guy too who is listed as the director of the company that manages the scheme, along with a Thailand resident James St Clair Murray.

http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/ ... mode%3Dstandard

Swallow runs http://chartersquare.co.nz/ (his company's website designer obviously did the Evergreen website too!) and apparently he has a bit of a media profile in NZ. I gather this is partly why my parents transferred to Evergreen - Swallow was regularly promoting the idea of UK pension transfers in various NZ financial media.

If he was knowingly involved in a deliberate scam and complicit in the 41% disappearing act I will take him to pieces.

I can give you all the evidence you need - emails between Ward and Swallow and Penrich and Spectrum.  Also, the 5-year "lock in" agreements entered into by the Evergreen victims were fraudulently set up to match the Marazion 5-year loans.  The maths worked like this: 100k transfer; 10k fee; 50k Marazion "loan" which will be 75k at term; remaining pension is worth at best 59k at term (unless all the 326 members repay their loans out of their pensions).  Pure pension liberation fraud at its worst.

for gods sake woman ,when are you going to stop .on the basis that you are the sole director of westminster  why dont you ask james hadley these questions after all westminster  was his scheme  and once again you are the director . i will repeat it again   imperial had no connection to westminster  and neither for that matter does global . not that it is anything to do with you miss brooks  but stephen ward has no connection to global  in any way at all ,so where did that one come from .it is not so much a bad theory now as utter nonsense  and it has got to stop .

Director of Global was briefly Stephen Geoffrey Bate, same as Steve Bate of Atlas Pension (Perkins' latest scam).  Global handled millions of pounds' worth of fraudulent pension transfers.  They are YOUR clients, registered to YOUR address.  Imperial was the administrator of Westminster (it is on the trust deed and it was most certainly not simply a template of the Capita Oak trust deed as it is completely different).

Please can you ask your clients for some transparency.  Your client Sarah Duffell (who handled part of the transfer admin for Capita Oak) transferred the Westminster victims' pensions to Stone Circle.  Please stop denying everything Mr. Downs.  We can do this publicly or privately - either way you are in serious trouble, as are your clients.

you will be the one in serious trouble . i totally deny that sarah duffell is a client of mine , where do you get this rubbish  from, it is so annoying . imperial house is quite a big building with lots of companies having their registered office here but they are not all my clients. you can do this anyway you like  but stop threatening me i have got nothing to hide , nothing at all . as i said to you earlier why not speak to your friend james hadley he must have all the info that you need.

I think neither "rubbish" nor "annyoing" are appropriate remarks.  You work out of Imperial House yourself, so why not go visit Global and ask them.  Hadley is not my "friend" although he has been considerably more helpful and transparent than Perkins, Fowler, Ward and Payne in terms of providing information and evidence.  They have all acted like cowards and refused to answer any questions or disclose evidence to help the members get some transparency.  You ask Hadley.

You are in serious trouble for a number of reasons: you have deliberately published a financial statement that ignored the Metis Law transactions - including the transfer to Thurlstone; you refused to engage with a truly independent firm of accountants and auditors and obstructed a proper set of accounts and independent audit (both of which are legal requirements for pension scheme administrators to produce); and you have promised since October to "get to the bottom" of the Capita Oak scam but produced nothing except an incomplete "financial statement".

Regarding the tax liability on the 5% loans.
If someone had a fund of £100,000 the tax would only be liable on £5,000 of that (the amount of the loan).
55% of £5,000 is £2750.
Many of the pensions transferred into Capita Oak were smaller than this.

Whilst nobody wants to lose £2750, most people could raise that in an emergency.
We also don;t know how likely it is that they will be pursued for it.

I am not trying to belittle people's problems, but the loss of a big chunk of their pension into a dubious investment is probably more worrying than the tax liability on the loans. It think we need to park the tax issue.

Could be significantly worse than "just" the 55% unauthorised payment tax on the 5% Thurlstone loans.  If HMRC decide CO was never a bona fide pension scheme (i.e. set up to provide income in retirement and observing investment and administrative protocol as set out clearly in legislation) there could be a 55% unauthorised payment charge on the whole 10.8 million (or 12 million including the missing 1.22 million).  It is clear the fraudsters behind CO had no intention of providing any benefit for the members (retirement, death or other) as it was all set up to rinse maximum fees and commissions for the organisers.  It was an obvious scam from start to finish and contravened just about every rule in the book on pensions and pension taxation (interestingly, written by Ward: Tolleys Pension Taxation - so no excuse for not knowing that 31 Memorial Road was facilitating a deliberate fraud).