Bermuda fraud: Ex-accountant Jeffrey Bevan could lose pension

Jeffrey Bevan could not be prosecuted in Bermuda because all the money was transferred to the UK

A former Welsh government and BBC accountant who stole nearly £2m from the Bermuda government faces a hearing to decide if he will lose his pension.

Jeffrey Bevan, 55, from Cwmbran, made fake payments into his bank account and bought luxury cars and property.

He manipulated a government payment system he was employed to set up in Bermuda in 2011.

Bevan will face a hearing next month to decide whether his £18,800 pension will be confiscated.

Prosecutor Timothy Evans told the court that the financial investigator working on the case had not put the pension forward as an "available asset" during the original confiscation process, as Bevan was not old enough to receive it.

• Accountant jailed for £1.7m Bermuda theft

• Accountant who stole £1.7m could lose pension

Cardiff Crown Court heard that if the pension was drawn down now, it could be worth around £18,800.

A judge will decide the matter at a proceeds of crime hearing on 3 February.

The court previously heard how Bevan moved to Bermuda for the £80,000 a job in 2011.

Cash transferred from the government account was used to buy two Mercedes Benz cars for £30,000, a property in Newport, two flats in Glasgow, six properties in Swansea and two units in Nottingham.

Jeffrey Bevan was sentenced to seven years and four months in jail in 2018, and served half his sentence

Bevan's £140,000 mortgage was also paid off.

Bevan initially denied the laundering, but changed his plea after the first day of his trial in 2018, admitting three counts of transferring criminal property and 10 counts of converting criminal property.

He was jailed in 2018 for seven years and four months.

He also received a further 18-month prison sentence in November 2021 for stealing £50,000 from his own mother.