The Pensions Regulator has launched its first fraud prosecution against an accountant accused of taking cash from a pension scheme.
This is the first time the regulator has charged an individual with these offences.
Roger Bessent is accused of abusing his position as the director of Gleeson Bessent Trustees – a professional pension scheme trustee.
It is claimed he transferred more than £200,000 of pension scheme funds into his bank account and those of companies controlled by him.
The funds were transferred from the Focusplay Retirement Benefit Scheme, the sponsoring employer of which was Gleeson Bessent (Accountants and Business Advisers). Bessent was a director of this company
Bessent, 66, whose business is based in Ashton on Ribble, near Preston, faces five counts of fraud by abuse of position, and five counts of making employer related investments.
He has been summonsed to appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on 30 January 2019.
