Courts chief?s pension transfer to be probed

THE transfer of millions of pounds out of the Courts pension scheme, eight months before the furniture retailer collapsed into administration, is to be investigated by the independent trustee appointed to run the fund, the Sunday Times reported today.

The newspaper revealed last month that Howard Cohen, a former director of Courts, had transferred £3.9m out of the group fund and into a personal pension scheme in March 2004. The transfer followed the announcement that the company was refinancing.

Although Cohen was legally entitled to transfer out of the scheme, says the Sunday Times, actuaries argue that the trustees, who included his brother Bruce Cohen and two cousins, should have taken the pension fund's reported £14m deficit into account and reduced the payout.

Stephen Ross, managing director of HR Trustees, who has been appointed to run the fund by KPMG, the administrator to Courts, said he was concerned about the transfer.

?I have asked for all the paperwork connected to the transfer and I will take legal advice about whether the benefits were appropriate,? he said.

Aon, the former adviser to the pension fund trustees, is understood to have raised concerns about the transfer at the time, but these were allayed when the company made an extra payment into the scheme. The £3.9m was 15% of the entire fund.