Former Torex Retail directors convicted of fraud

Edwin Dayan and Christopher Ford will be sentenced next month for defrauding shareholders of Torex Retail Plc

Two company directors have been convicted at Oxford Crown Court of defrauding shareholders of software company Torex Retail plc.

The pair, Edwin Dayan, and Christopher Ford, were charged in January 2010 with conspiracy to defraud, false accounting and misleading an auditor.

They were both directors at Torex subsidiary XN Checkout, and caused more than £1.65m in fictitious profits to be recognised within the published accounts of Torex.

At the court hearing today, the duo were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud. The other charges will not be proceeded with.

Their case was accepted for investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in January 2007 after whistleblowers from former AIM-listed company Torex came forward with information about alleged accounting irregularities.The investigation was carried out in conjunction with the City of London Police.

Richard Alderman, SFO director, said: “I welcome today’s verdicts and the part played by whistleblowers in helping to uncover this crime. It is a victory for honesty and fair dealing in business life.”

Dayan and Ford are scheduled to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on 18 February.

Investigations are continuing into the wider collapse of Torex Retail plc, which is now in liquidation.

The company is entirely separate from Torex Retail Holdings Limited and its subsidiary companies, which are still trading.