Further unreported offences are also likely to have occurred.In many cases, employers were putting off paying contributions until more than three weeks after paying wages In some cases, employers were failing to pay altogether Opra is treating the initial court cases as a test. They are being prosecuted for failure to pay members’ contributions into pension schemes.John Hayes, Opra’s chairman, said: “The cases concern the continuing failure by some employers, without reasonable excuse, to pay over deductions made from employees’ pay packets into the employees’ occupational scheme. Opra, the pensions regulator, is bringing criminal prosecutions against at least five employers for taking deductions from pay packets and failing to put the money into pension schemes Hundreds more employers may be prosecuted for the crime. Opra announced the criminal proceedings as it published details of numerous breaches of pensions law, uncovered since it started work in April last year, including several cases which strongly resemble the actions of Robert Maxwell.
The prosecuted employers, which Opra cannot name for legal reasons, are expected to be forced into court before the end of March. Asda, the supermarkets chain, and transport group National Express each submitted bids for Welcome Break, as did a string of venture capital groups.Investcorp is also expected to show an interest, and industry sources do not rule out Granada as a potential bidder Both these firms would face competition hurdles.. The commercial prospects for the new Airbus alone ought to make the case for launch aid. Let’s hope the taxpayer makes a real return of at least 8 per cent..

Business failures are currently running at an all-time low. But if, as expected, economic growth levels off there could be a swift increase in corporate fraud, business was warned yesterday. Roger Trapp reports on a fresh attempt to combat a perennial problem. The warning came from George Staple, former head of the Serious Fraud Office, at the official launch of a body designed to tackle the problem by drawing on expertise in a variety of sectors. The Fraud Advisory Panel has been established under the auspices of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, but is being supported by several public- sector organisations, including the Customs & Excise, the Department of Social Security, the National Audit Office and the City of London and Metropolitan police forces.
Ian McCartney, a minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, welcomed the move, saying he hoped it would play an “important part in developing greater awareness of business fraud and the means of combating it”.The initiative was introduced by Gerry Acher, head of audit at accountants KPMG and chairman of the institute’s audit faculty. In 1996, the last year for which figures are available, the company made an operating profit of pounds 6.88m on turnover of pounds 113m.Roadchef is likely to attract interest from a string of buyers. Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment group, last year shocked the City with its winning pounds 476m bid for Welcome Break.If it sells for similar valuations as Welcome Break, Roadchef could fetch a price of pounds 150m.

The firm’s interest in a trade sale is believed to have been raised by the high price that Granada received for Welcome Break, the service station chain it sold following its takeover of Forte. Roadchef’s employees control a further 5 per cent of the shares through the Esop, which was set up in 1987 and was the first such scheme to be established by a British company.Roadchef yesterday announced that it was preparing to send details on the company to a wide range of interested buyers. Land Rover sales are expected to double next year following the launch of the new Freelander model.. The chief executive of Roadchef, the motorway service station chain which has put itself up for sale, stands to make up to pounds 90m if the deal goes through, it emerged yesterday Tim Ingram Hill owns 21 per cent of Roadchef’s shares.

A further 42 per cent is tied up in share options for senior management, the majority of which are thought to be in Mr Ingram Hill’s hands. Sources said Mr Ingram Hill owned 60 per cent of the company, which is likely to be worth pounds 150m.
Another 400 of the group’s employees, who are members of its employee share ownership plan (Esop), would share a further pounds 7.5m between them. The company owned by BMW of Germany, hopes to create 1,200 new jobs as it increases the number of outlets from 123 to 135.Land Rover’s network of independent dealers will put up the pounds 122m, which will be spent on upgrading existing facilities as well as opening new ones. Scheele said its industrial relations record had improved dramatically: “The workforce has a lot of pride.”Tony Blair, speaking directly to employees at the plant via a satellite link from 10 Downing Street, said: “It demonstrates once again that international car companies recognise that Britain is a highly competitive place to build cars.”Meanwhile a huge recruitment drive is under way as part of the pounds 122m programme to expand the network of Land Rover dealers across the country. The extra costs covered the amount of work needed to transform the Merseyside plant.The decision to use Halewood is a big boost to a factory which for many years had a troubled history of labour problems and quality control. Philip Warland, director general of Autif, said he was worried that investors were buying corporate bonds from banks and building societies after seeing large – and highly unusual – returns over the last year.

“I’m worried people are buying these because they are offered by well- known institutions rather than because they understand them,” he said. Nick Scheele, Jaguar chairman and chief executive, said pounds 43m covered the difference between building in the UK as opposed to abroad, where no subsidies would have been needed.But Mr Scheele said there was no question that Halewood was less productive or efficient than plants in Germany. Mr Warland was speaking as Autif unveiled a survey of 1,000 people, a quarter of whom thought unit trusts were guaranteed to grow quicker than bank deposits.. Britain’s car industry received a double boost yesterday from government backing for a pounds 400m Jaguar project and from a decision by Land Rover to invest pounds 122m, creating 1,200 new jobs. Margaret Beckett, President of the Board of Trade, announced a pounds 43m tranche of public money to secure the commitment of Ford to build its Jaguar X400 at Halewood rather than overseas.
The investment will safeguard 2,900 existing jobs and hold out the prospect of a further 500 posts by the year 2002.