SFO approaches ruling on collapsed insurer
One of the SFO's longest-running investigations, into Independent Insurance, about to conclude
The SFO is close to rounding up one of its longest investigations, into the
collapse of Independent Insurance, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The SFO has been investigating the case since June 2001 after an FSA referral
and will soon decide whether to bring charges against officers of the failed
insurer or conclude that there is insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed as provisional liquidator of the
insurer, which was founded by Michael Bright and had 500,000 private customers
and 40,000 corporate policy holders at its collapse.
Lengthy criminal and civil investigations followed the collapse, with the
fall-out and costs continuing to impact on the industry. The Financial Services
Compensation Scheme has had to impose a £130m levy to cover claims against
Independent’s policies.