UK - A former Hewitt Associates pensions administrator has been given a 21-month prison sentence for stealing more than a quarter of a million pounds from a client.
 
Ian Norman, 28, who worked at the consultant's Hemel Hempstead office, stole £265,470 (€389,388) from banknote printing firm De La Rue, according to local media reports of proceedings at St Albans Crown Court north of London.

Hewitt spokesman Colin Mayes confirmed that Norman and his former girlfriend Tracey Evans were sacked last year after De La Rue raised alarms about the matter in August 2006. Mayes said: "We have a zero tolerance policy."

De La Rue's group pension manager Lyn Cross told IPE today that it had not suffered any losses. The €448m pension fund is still administered by Hewitt.

Local newspaper Hemel Today reported that Norman created fictional beneficiaries, spending the money on homes, cars, home improvements and holidays.

Norman was arrested after Basingstoke-based De La Rue raised alarm about a lack of documentation to support the payment Norman made after creating a fictional identity for a daughter of a De La Rue employee who had died.

Norman's lawyer, Paul Lazerus, said that Norman had worked at Hewitt for a number of years before committing the offence, he added that an ashamed Norman now has been making efforts to pay the money back.

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