The final confiscation order was made today in the Cheney Pension Fund fraud. Ian Selby ordered to pay over £415,000. Orders against Kevin Sykes (£90,000) and Simon Maya (£1.46 million) were made earlier this year.
Confiscation orders total £1,970,012 of which compensation orders were made to the value of £1,970,012.
Confiscation orders as follows:-
Today at Birmingham Crown Court, Ian Selby (DOB: 09.10.47) was given a confiscation order of £415,952. He was given 28 days to pay £367,952 and twelve months to pay the remaining £48,000 or serve an additional default sentence of 18 months' imprisonment. A compensation order of the full amount £415,952 was made payable to the Pension Protection Fund and this is to be paid out of the confiscation order.
On 19 June 2008, Kevin Gordon Sykes (DOB: 29.07.60) was ordered to pay £90,000 confiscation within twelve months' or serve a default sentence of two years' imprisonment to be served consecutive to the original sentence. From the confiscation order a compensation order of £90,000 was made in favour of the Cheney Pension Fund.
Also on 19 June 2008, Simon Michael Maya (DOB: 22.11.41) was ordered to pay £1,464,060 confiscation within fifteen months or serve a default sentence of 7 and a half years' imprisonment consecutive to the original sentence. An order of compensation for the same amount was made. This is to be divided between the Cheney Pension (who did not receive full compensation for the amount stolen, and the Pensions Protection Fund who compensated the pension fund out of public funds).
Background on C W Cheney & Son
Cheney & Son was a small manufacturing firm in Hockley, Birmingham. It made locks, such as those used on luggage. The Cheney pension scheme was established in 1973 as a final salary scheme for employees. In 1999, the fund represented around £3.1 million. In April 2000 the company and its pension fund was acquired by Cumberland Leasing Corporation, a company controlled by Kevin Sykes, Michael Maya and others. CW Cheney & Son had ceased to be a going concern by this time and its largest single asset was the pension fund. It was Sykes and Maya's intention, with others, to raid the fund.
Seven defendants originally charged and dealt with in two separate trials in 2004. In the first trial one defendant pleaded guilty and three were convicted by the jury. In the second trial one defendant pleaded guilty while the other was not proceeded with.
The restraint and confiscation investigation was jointly conducted with the West-Midlands Police.
At today's result, SFO lawyer Gary Leong said "The Serious Fraud Office is committed to the objective of making criminals surrender any and all benefits of crime by ensuring the confiscation all their proceeds of criminal conduct and by ensuring that compensation is paid to their victims. We take an aggressive proactive approach and we will use all the investigative and legal tools at our disposal to achieve that objective."
