The Great Savings Wipe Out

We hear that investors’ complaints over the inaction of Capita and the FSA are due to get much-needed publicity in an edition of the BBC’s flagship investigative programme Panorama due to be broadcast at 8.30pm next Monday (March 25th).

The programme, entitled The Great Savings Wipe Out, is presented and produced by the award-winning combination of Paul Kenyon and Matthew Chapman. They will be revealing how investors in two schemes – a dodgy hotel developer specialising in the Caribbean and the Connaught/Tiuta Ponzi fund – were fleeced under the noses of the regulator and others who had a duty of care to protect consumers’ assets.

In our case, the omission is all the more serious given that:

• The FSA knew Nigel Walter was a crook as early as April 2008 but failed to prosecute him, or even keep an eye on what he did next. He began work on creating the Fund that same
month – with his picture and biography in the original information memorandum…
• They also had detailed evidence of insolvency and fraud from the then CEO, George Patellis, in January 2011 but allowed the remaining, discredited directors to continue
trading with investors’ money
• Capita knew Nigel Walter was a crook in January 2009, if not before. The firm claims to have put in place measures to remove him from Connaught at that time, but failed
to check whether these had been followed through. And the company was trying to resign three months later, if not earlier
• The FTSE 100 group’s knowledge of the Connaught problems extended right up to the main board; it wasn’t just known by Capita Financial Managers, the subsidiary that acted as Operator

An introduction to the programme, the broadcast date of which could be subject to last-minute alteration, can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rmkvd.