THE former owner, CEO and Svengali at the helm of Norton Motorcycle until earlier this year has been told he must pay back the £14m that is missing from company’s employee retirement fund.
The news comes after Garner had the rug well and truly pulled from under him, after he originally tried to appeal the decision. Now though, the courts have refused his request, effectively pushing the one-time firework salesman is being pushed closer than ever to potential personal bankruptcy – he is already the subject of a personal bankruptcy petition from Leicester City Council.
Moto Corse Norton Commando Custom
Garner has been given permission to appeal against £180,000 in distress payments levelled against him. This payment is for 30 members of one of the pensions schemes Garner was the trustee of, and it’s for repeatedly refusing to release funds when they were due.
Garner used the money in the pension funds to invest directly into the Norton Motorcycles business, sadly though the company slipped into administration earlier this year. An investigation by the ombudsman this summer found that Garner had “acted dishonestly and in breach of his duty of no conflict”, going on to say state that Garner was possibly ill-qualified to run such a scheme. It reads “The Trustee [Stuart Garner] has breached his statutory duty to have acquired knowledge and understanding of the law relating to pensions and trusts”
It's worth noting here that this situation, let’s call it: 'Stuart Garner and the missing pension pots', is nothing to do with TVS Motor and the recent purchase they made of Norton Motorcycles. That purchase is wholly and completely relating to the motorcycle side of the business and its associated functions. It’s nothing to do with Mr Garner’s slightly ill-judged and unsavoury pension dealings. Having spoken to the new leadership team at Norton just last week, we can confirm they are going above and beyond to try and right some of the wrongs of the previous administration.
