Written Evidence from Manita Khuller (PPS0078) Contents 1. Executive
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Written evidence from Manita Khuller (PPS0078) Contents 1. Executive Summary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 2. Question Responses -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 2.1. What is the prevalence of pension scams ------------------------------------------------------------- 4 2.2. What are the current trends in pension scams?---------------------------------------------------- 5 2.3. What are the common outcomes of pension scams for perpetrators and victims?--------6 2.4. How are existing enforcement tools being used? ---------------------------------------------------- 7 2.5. What more can be done to prevent pension scammers operating? -------------------------- 9 2.6. What more can be done to prevent individuals becoming victims of pension scams?-- 10 2.7. What role should the pensions industry have in preventing scams? ------------------------ 11 2.8. Is HMRC’s position on the tax treatment of pension scam victims correct ---------------- 11 2.9. Are public bodies co-ordinating the response to pension scams?--------------------------- 12 1. Executive Summary 1.1.Introduction 1.2.I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Committee’s inquiry into pension scams. As I recently concluded successful court action vs my QROPS Pension Trustee, I have been unable to contribute to this enquiry to date. 1.3.I am an ordinary retail investor and the victim of a pension scam, where my two UK Defined Benefit Company Schemes were transferred to a Guernsey QROPS offered by FNB Pension Intl. Trustees in Guernsey. I am the person mentioned in the Phoenix group submission at 2.3.22 as the one “who suffered the loss of her £330,000 pension pot, recently took her trustee FNB International to court in Guernsey.” 1.4.My DB transfer took place in 2011 when I was living overseas and because of the introduction of the QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes) legislation in the UK in 2006 1.5.Though my transfer took place before the introduction of the “Pension Scam” Scorpion Leaflet in 2013, there was plenty of Pension guidance and regulation in existence relating to Self-Invested Pensions which had been in place since 1994. This did not prevent the disastrous circumstances of my DB pension transfer and the high- risk unsuitable investments my pension funds were invested into. 1.6.My DB Scheme pension transfer should never have taken place as it could never be replaced by an equivalent pension, though I was misled to believe that it would be. Further, I incurred significant financial losses to the pension pot, which was invested into unregulated collective investment schemes, would not have occurred had all the proper regulatory checks been carried out, both by the ceding Trustees in the UK and the receiving Trustee in Guernsey. 1.7.I had worked hard in the UK for over 20 years with two large multinationals, Unilever and Proctor & Gamble to build up the DB schemes, though I was unaware of the benefits I was giving up at the time of transfer. 1.8.In 2011, when working overseas in SE Asia, in Bangkok, Thailand, I was advised to transfer my UK DB pensions by a British adviser in Bangkok, Thailand (PPI Advisory International). PPI Intl. pretended to be a properly licensed and UK qualified firm, knowledgeable about QROPS. They act for large international banks like First Rand Bank S.A and Life insurance companies like Royal Skandia (now Old Mutual Intl, Isle of Man) and Friends Provident. 1.9.PPI Advisory Intl., Bangkok recommended and facilitated my DB pension transfer. PPI advised me that I would have significant tax benefits as I was transferring to a legitimate scheme ‘recognised’ by the HMRC and that I could benefit from passing on the pension benefits to my son, upon my death. I was not aware that they were a sales agent for the Guernsey QROPS Pension Trustee. 1.10 I first became aware that there was a serious problem with my QROPS when one Fund, the infamous LM Managed Performance Fund (Australia), collapsed and went into bankruptcy in March 2013. To my shock, I learnt that this fund was 50% of my entire pension pot and was an Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme. In fact, it was an ‘unregistered’ scheme, not registered even in Australia and targeted expatriates. 1.11I later learnt that my entire pension transfer amount was invested into just three Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS), approved by the Pension Trustee in Guernsey, within an Insurance Bond provided by Royal Skandia International/Old Mutual (Isle of Man). All of this was contrary to my stated risk profile. 1.12 Both the Trustee and Old Mutual had terms of Business with the British Unlicensed adviser, PPI Advisory, Thailand. Before this, I had no idea what an Unregulated Collective Scheme was. All of UCIS funds have been frozen for many years and one i.e., the LMMP Fund has completely failed. 1.13 I only became aware in March 2014 that the QROPS Pension Trustee had a duty of care towards me in overseeing my Pension Investments and acting in my best interest. The Pension Trustee had not engaged with me at all till that point when I contacted them to find out what had happened to my pension investment. 1.14 In 2014, I was fortunately connected to a group of some 60 retired expatriates in Thailand, many of whom were British, who had been invested by their unregulated advisers into the LMMP Fund. I learnt that the LMMP Fund was widely sold to British retirees and expatriates as ‘safe as a bank’, with steady growth and low risk as it invested into Australian residential property. 1.15I then began my research and discovery of my pension scam over the next 3 years; I learnt that the LM Fund management company was regulated by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) but the LMMPF was not and was in reality totally 'unregistered'. My research revealed a lot of new information on the true nature of the LM fund scam and how British expatriates overseas had been targeted as part of a well-orchestrated international investment scam. 1.16 For three years since the collapse of the LMMP Fund, I made several official complaints to bodies in Thailand, Guernsey and the UK. My initial complaints were to PPI Advisory Intl. Bangkok, FNB Trustees Intl. Guernsey and Royal Skandia Intl., Isle of Man. From the outset, my Pension Trustee denied any responsibility for any negligence on their part or liability for my loss. 1.17 I also made complaints to the Guernsey Regulator, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GSFC), the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (Thai SEC) and various UK bodies such as the Pension Regulator, the Financial Ombudsman and the HMRC. 1.18 All the UK regulatory bodies I complained to did not help me, stating that as I had transferred my UK pension overseas, even though this was done under HMRC legislation, this was out of their jurisdiction. 1.19 The Thai SEC helped respond to my written complaints. They investigated the Bangkok Advisory firm and placed them on an 'Investor Alert' list in July 2014. A criminal investigation was initiated into the activities of PPI Advisory, Thailand and the MD Eric Jordan, which is ongoing. The SEC investor alert and the notice of criminal investigation was helpful to me in my court case vs FNB Trustees, who had had the role of appointing the Bangkok unregulated adviser to the Trust as their investment adviser, as per the QROPS Pension Trust Deed. 1.20 In November 2016, I filed a Civil case in the Royal Courts of Guernsey vs FNB Trustees. At all times I attempted to settle the matter out of court. At all times the Trustee denied their duty of care towards me, as their Pension Beneficiary. Instead, they hired the biggest and one of the top litigators at the most expensive Guernsey law firm (Carey Olsen ) to defend their claim vs me. 1.21 My Civil case was heard at a courtroom trial before Jurats in November 2019 at the Royal Courts of Guernsey, where I represented myself as a ‘Litigant in person’, with the help of a McKenzie friend, as I had no other alternative. To my shock and disappointment, despite all the evidence in my favour, I lost my case at Trial via a Guernsey court judgement delivered on 2nd Dec 2019. The judgement, which is in the public domain, ruled that I had failed to prove that the Pension Trustee had acted with gross negligence or that they were responsible for my loss. 1.22 In December 2019, I faced further financial ruin as the Defendant with their top law firm, Carey Olsen was pressing FNB’s claim for their exorbitant legal costs of over £250,000 against me and said they would come after my home in the U.K. 1.23 In December 2019 I filed an appeal against the Guernsey Royal Court decision. The Appeal was heard by an eminent panel of UK judges in July 2020. The Appeal Court overturned the decision of the Royal court and ruled that the Pension Trustee had been grossly negligent in their actions and caused me great financial losses as a consequence. 1.24 As was referred to in other submissions made to this enquiry, apart from the stress and trauma this experience has vested on me for the last so many years, this Pension scam nearly destroyed any financial security in retirement that I had worked so hard for. Despite my win in court, I have no hope of an equivalent pension to my DB schemes. 2.Question Responses 2.1 What is the prevalence of pension scams? 2.1.1 The true scale of this is not known as has been submitted by various expert parties to this enquiry.