SFO seeks £200,000 after Deloitte unearths Ken Thorne Group boss fraud

A probe by liquidators after a fraud at one of the country’s first car supermarkets has seen the SFO hit a former director with a £200,000 confiscation order.

Finance companies were duped into thinking cars held by Ken Thorne Group, of which Nigel Thorne was a director, had been paid for. It fraudulently used the cars as collateral to secure funding from the creditors.

Ken Thorne Group stopped trading in 2002 after the scandal, which saw creditors appoint liquidators from Deloitte.

SFO papers said Deloitte experts found a number of suspicious transactions and “other irregularities” at the company and filed a report to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Although Nigel Thorne is currently bankrupt, the SFO is targeting money given to his family as gifts if he fails to pay back £198,090.

The dossier was passed to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) who carried out a full investigation in association with South Wales Police.

The probe resulted in two directors at the group, Andrew Thorne and Nigel Thorne sentenced to prison terms.

The business was created by the directors’ father Ken Thorne in the 1960’s, and increased its brand recognition with the sponsorship of Cardiff City Football Club and the World Powerboat Championships.

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