UK Treasury Calls In The Serious Fraud Office To Probe Equitable Life Allegations

The UK Treasury has called in the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate the near-collapse of life assurance and pensions provider Equitable Life. It follows allegations raised in the course of the composition of an official inquiry into the scandal prepared by Lord Penrose. “Having studied the contents of the report the Treasury has asked the Serious Fraud Office to consider a number of issues raised in the report,” junior finance minister Ruth Kelly told Parliament. Kelly, who has been accused by opposition politicians and Equitable Life policyholders of delaying publication of the report, said it would be published once the legal issues were cleared. Equitable Life CEO Charles Thomson says he is confident fraud charges will not be levelled. Equitable came close to collapse after it lost a court case in the House of Lords in 2000, when it was ordered it to honour guaranteed annuities sold in the inflationary conditions of the 1970s and 1980s.