It’s pay back time for Stuart Garner who dined out at expensive restaurants and lived a lavish lifestyle as he ran Norton — one of the most revered bands in motorcycling — into the ground.
Now the former boss is in deep trouble, ordered to pay back £14m to pensioners who invested in retirement funds not knowing Garner was dishonestly using the money to prop up his motorcycle company.
The order to pay back the money will not affect Norton Motorcycles which was bought in April by Indian company TVS who are investing heavily and promise to produce all current and promised models as well as some new models.
The UK Pensions Ombudsman is now chasing Garner to repay funds from three pension schemes he set up which fraudulently funnelled money into his company.
Garner relaxes at home
In 2012 and 2013, 228 pensioners invested in five-year pension funds (Commando 2012 Pension Scheme, the Dominator 2012 Pension Scheme, and the Donington MC Pension Scheme) which invested primarily in Norton Motorcycles.
Garner was trustee of all funds and sole director of their provider, Manocrest Ltd.
The pensioners claim their investment was not returned years after the lock-in period had expired and £14 million in investments were lost in the company collapse.
In February, Garner failed to appear at a public hearing held by the Pensions Ombudsman to investigate complaints about the pension schemes
Pay back time
The Ombudsman has now issued this statement:
“The trustee [Garner] has acted dishonestly and in breach of his duty of no conflict, his duty not to profit and his duty to act with prudence.
“The investments made by [Garner into Norton] on behalf of each of the schemes were made in breach of the trustee’s statutory, investment and trust law duties.”
The ombudsman ordered Garner to make a “restorative payment” to all the scheme members as well as paying £180,000 to the original 30 fund applicants for “exceptional maladministration causing injustice”.
Garner has not made any media comment about the determination, but in the past the former export “poster boy” has blamed Brexit for his company’s downfall.
“Poster boy” Garner
The pensions payback is not Garner’s only worries as the UK government may investigate almost £8m in funding and loans to Norton Motorcycles which went into administration in January following £300,000 in unpaid taxes.
While the debts were piling up, Garner and his wife, Susie, were spotted dining out at an elite restaurant, The Ivy, where a steak costs about £30 (about $A60).
Motorcycle journalists also report that Garner had attended international motorsport events and put on lavish motorcycle launches.
He also lived in lavish surroundings in Donington Castle where Norton motorcycles are also manufactured.
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com