A former charity chief is being prosecuted by The Pensions Regulator on suspicion of having defrauded the pension scheme of the disabled charity he worked for.

Patrick McLarry has been accused of transferring more than £250,000 from the pension scheme of Yateley Industries for the Disabled. The charity provides skilled training, employment and accommodation for people with disabilities.

McLarry, the charity's former chief executive, has been accused of fraud by abuse of position, an offence under section 1(2)(c) of the Fraud Act 2006, and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

His wife, Sandra McLarry, faces four charges of money laundering – the first time that The Pensions Regulator has brought a prosecution for this offence. Money laundering is an offence under section 327 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.

The offences are said to have taken place between April 2011 and September 2013 when Mr McLarry was both the chief executive and chairman of the charity and a director of the corporate trustee of the charity’s pension scheme. Mrs McLarry was the secretary of the Hampshire-based charity’s board.

Mr McLarry, 70, and Mrs McLarry, 59, of Bere Alston, Devon, have been summonsed by Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court to appear at the court on 19 March.

Article reproduced with permission from PensionsAge, a management title for the pensions sector from the publishers of Charity Times.

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