Businessman gets jail for swindling pension fund |
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Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:05
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LONDON: A businessman who swindled the pension fund of a defunct company to the tune of 2 million pounds was jailed by a London court yesterday, finding that he had conspired, and defrauded the fund's 200 investors. Danish entrepreneur Bjorn Stiedl will undergo a four-and-half-year jail term on these charges, while his solicitor accomplice, charged with abetment in the crime gets a two-year term.
London's Southwark Crown Court found that Stiedl, 44, had plundered the pension fund of the defunct forklift plant of the Balfrom Group at East Kilbride near Glasgow. Aided by his lawyer, he placed the stolen money in overseas bank accounts had used it to lead a life of luxury, offer largesse to his aides and finance a 400,000 mortgage of his wife.
Stiedl gave10,000 pounds to his secretary and offered similar gifts to relatives. His solicitor Carsten Iversen got a 100,000-pound "thank you" bonus for channeling the money through the overseas accounts.
The judge found the Iversen too was part of the plot and gave him jail.
With interest, the fund had lost nearly 4 million pounds.
The court was told that Stiedl's company, Crisun, had bought Balfron's pension fund for 450,000 pounds in 1994.
The judge James Wadsworth QC confronted the accused: "This was a very skillful, calculated and deliberate fraud on a number of pensioners who were not people of your income but relied enormously on the pension they had spent their working life in order to achieve."
Stiedl's lawyer argued before the court that the fraud was "opportunistic" and would not have been possible without the solicitor, but judge Wadsworth would not buy it. He told Stiedl: "While you obtained substantial help from a professional, you were the instigator, the leader and by a very long chalk, the main beneficiary."
Stiedl, in remand in prison, has offered to pay back 2.8 million pounds.
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