The investigation into suspected fraud at the Ravenhead Company Limited, which went into administration in February 2001, has been closed for lack sufficient evidence.
Following a lengthy investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, in conjunction with Merseyside Police, the SFO has decided that the evidence as a whole is insufficient to justify a prosecution. In considering all the evidence available the SFO had regard to the inconsistencies between various witnesses and the circumstances in which the company went into liquidation. It is satisfied that the evidential test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, that there must be a reasonable prospect of a conviction, is not met.
Background notes for editors:
- Ravenhead manufactured glassware and was founded more than 150 years ago. It was based in St Helens, Merseyside. The immediate parent company of Ravenhead was Durobor SA. The ultimate parent company of Ravenhead was a Belgian company called Societe Regionale D' Investissement de Wallonie SA.
- The investigation, which opened in February 2002, was lengthy because during the course of the investigation a large number of enquiries were made in the UK and abroad. Accordingly it was necessary to seek evidence from four other jurisdictions, a process that is inevitably time consuming and for which the SFO has to rely on the cooperation of overseas authorities.
- There was no prosecution regarding the pension fund because there would be no prospect of securing convictions in relation to the misuse of funds as there is insufficient evidence to support a prosecution. [Other aspects of the pension fund issue were investigated by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority and the Pensions Ombudsman. In September 2006 the Pensions Ombudsman confirmed that their investigation had ceased and their file was closed.]
- There was no prosecution of fraudulent trading or false accounting as there was insufficient evidence that Ravenhead was run to insolvency for personal gain or was carried on with intent to defraud creditors. In considering all the evidence available the SFO had regard to inconsistencies between various witnesses and the circumstances in which the company went into liquidation.
- This investigation was referred to the Serious Fraud Office for investigation by Merseyside Police.
Serious Fraud Office
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