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Stuart Garner, the former owner of Norton Motorcycles, is due to appear at Derby Magistrates Court on 7 February. Mr Garner is charged with illegally investing money into the business from three pension schemes for which he was the sole trustee.

Garner, of Castle Donington, is accused of breaching Employer Related Investment (ERI) rules by investing more than 5% of assets from each scheme into his business, Norton Motorcycle Holdings Ltd.

The alleged offences are in relation to three defined contribution schemes: Dominator 2012, Commando 2012 and Donington MC which had a total of 227 scheme members. The investments, which were made in return for preference shares, were made between 2012 and 2013.

As set out in Regulation 12(2) of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005, subject to certain exceptions, it is a criminal offence to invest more than 5% of the current market value of scheme resources in ERIs.

Mr Garner is being prosecuted with three separate alleged ERI offences under section 40(5) of the Pensions Act 1995 – one in relation to each scheme.