Three arrests in suspected sports training probe
THREE men have been arrested in a Serious Fraud Office probe into a suspected fraud surrounding football-based apprenticeship schemes.
Properties in Heywood, Southport and Gwent in South Wales were searched by police forces working with the SFO and investigating the dealings of Luis Michael Training, a company that was involved in the enrolment, assessment and verification for apprenticeships and NVQ programmes for young people working in community sport, and funded by the Skills Funding Agency.
The SFO said it is suspected that LMT produced false documentation, including registration papers, progress reviews and coaching examination certificates to falsely show to further education colleges and examining boards that training and apprenticeship placements had been successfully achieved and completed.
It added: “The suspected offences include fraudulent trading, false accounting and forgery.”
The company was bsed in Gwent but is now defunct. The period being investigated spans 2009 – 2011. It is provisionally estimated that the total suspected fraudulent claims made by Luis Michael Training to a number of colleges is more than £1.6m.
A business property in Southport was searched along with homes in Cardiff, Chepstow, Heywood and Southport.
The SFO said two of the men arrested had been interviewed and released without charge on unconditional bail. The third is still being interviewed but will also be released without charge on unconditional bail.
