On the go: The Pensions Regulator has banned the corporate trustee of the Audax Pension Trust from acting as a trustee, following concerns of improper management and links to potential scam activity.
Both Audax Management Limited and director Edward Martin Kelly, of County Wexford, Ireland, have been removed from their control of the £1.2m Audax Pension Trust, while independent trustee company Dalriada has been appointed to take over the scheme.
The regulator was alerted to problems at the scheme by eight complaints between March 2017 and September 2019, where members said their requests to transfer savings out of the scheme had been denied. Audax claimed that this was not possible because the scheme did not have an administrator, itself a key legal requirement.
One member looking to draw his 25 per cent lump sum upon reaching retirement age had been put in touch by his financial adviser with another adviser and co-director of another company with Mr Kelly, Paul Dugan. According to TPR’s determination notice, Mr Dugan facilitated the transfer but the member did not receive any paperwork from the scheme, experienced delays receiving the lump sum, and was unable to transfer out.
Dalriada was first approached by Mr Kelly to run the scheme, after Audax lost HM Revenue & Customs registration due to not having an administrator.
However, Dalriada then contacted the regulator’s case team expressing concerns about links to scam activity, based upon materials found online.
In 2016, the scheme’s assets were mostly invested in the Ganita Wealth Fund, a British Virgin Island-based venture that was named as the scheme’s investment adviser and is run by a UK company registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.
But by 2018, Mr Kelly was complaining to TPR that he had “inherited unknown issues”, and that the scheme had “no administrators, no investment managers (previously Ganita Wealth), no bank account and no sponsoring employer”.
Dalriada has also been appointed to the Ganita Wealth Pension Scheme, along with the Ploutos Pension Trust, in “separate, but related, hearings”, according to TPR.
Only £10,000 out of a 2016 allocation of £100,000 to another of the Audax scheme’s investments, a company called Lawthority, can now be accounted for. Correspondence suggests another investment may have been written down to nil.
In response to failings, including failing to wind up after a triggering event, the regulator has removed Audax and Mr Kelly and banned them from acting as trustees.
Erica Carroll, director of enforcement at TPR, said: “In this case, the corporate trustee and director showed a severe lack of knowledge and understanding.
“This case shows we will ensure those trustees that fail to meet the statutory requirements and the high standards we expect in respect of scheme governance are stopped from failing other savers by continuing to be able to act as pension trustees.”
