Prosecutors lay out case in ATL pension fraud matter

Prosecutors yesterday began building their case against three former executives employed to hotelier Gordon 'Butch' Stewart who are accused of disbursing over $1 billion from the ATL Group Pension Fund and using forged letters to justify the payouts.

This came as the fraud trial involving the former chairman of the ATL Pension Fund, Patrick Lynch, and its general manager, Catherine Barber, along with Dr Jeffrey Pyne, the managing director of Stewart's holding company Gorstew Limited, got under way in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

According to the 16-count indictment granted by presiding magistrate Lorna Shelly Williams, the three former executives are alleged to have caused the money to be paid out, over several years, from the fund's surplus without the consent of the founder.

When the disbursements were discovered, prosecutors charged that the accused produced forged letters seeking to show that they had the consent of the founder.

"The issues before the court are whether there has been distribution (of the pension fund surplus) without approval and whether forged documents had been uttered purporting to give the owner's consent," said R.N.A. Henriques, one of the attorneys leading the prosecution.

The three accused, standing in the dock, repeatedly replied not guilty as the charges were read to them.

Pyne's attorney, Queen's Counsel K.D. Knight, speaking before the indictment was granted, said prosecutors had not presented any allegation "capable of showing any dishonest behaviour".

first witness

Carolyn Bell-Wisdom, a chartered accountant and certified fraud examiner employed to the firm PwC, was the first witness to take the stand.

Bell-Wisdom testified that in November 2010, PwC was engaged by ATL to conduct a comprehensive audit review "to assist management to determine whether the ATL Pension Fund would be able to withstand a regulatory review by the Financial Services Commission".

She is expected to continue giving evidence about the findings of the audit when the trial resumes today.