SFO may investigate Equitable
The Serious Fraud Office is likely to be asked to investigate Equitable Life's collapse after the inquiry by Lord Penrose has finished.
Link: Equitable Life unlikely to win E&Y battle, say experts
With Lord Penrose’s report due in the next few weeks, there is a possibility that a fraud investigation could be launched over a deal Equitable made with General Electric subsidiary Employers Re in 1999.
According to the Independent on Sunday the use of the £1.5bn reinsurance contract, which bolstered the company’s reserves but was thought to provide little financial benefit, may have been designed to fool the Government Actuary and auditors and could be termed as fraud.
The SFO said that it had not yet been asked to investigate but would probe if a complaint was put in front of it.