UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been urged to intervene in an alleged £75m cashback scandal.
The island’s financial regulators have been accused of ‘massive failure’ as an all party group of Westminster MPs met to investigate claims of mis-selling by energy giant ScottishPower.
Those claims involve a cashback scheme offered by ScottishPower on extended warranties for electrical goods in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some 625,000 customers, many of them pensioners or on low incomes, who had paid an average of £140 on their cashback warranty, never got their money back.
Companies registered in the Isle of Man were set up to administer the cashback scheme.
The island’s Financial Services Authority, formed last year from the merger of the Insurance and Pensions Authority (IPA) and the Financial Supervision Commission, declined to attend the all-party parliamentary group hearing earlier this month, claiming it is not empowered to release restricted information to such bodies.
Scottish Power deny all the allegations.
During Prime Minister’s questions in the House of Commons last week, SNP MP for Dumfries and Galloway, Richard Arkless, called on David Cameron to meet with him and members of the all-party parliamentary group
Mr Arkless told the Prime Minister that he had seen ‘new evidence’ at the recent hearing that had him ‘utterly convinced’ ScottishPower still owed customers.
He asked Mr Cameron: ‘ScottishPower refused to attend an evidence session with the cashback APPG where crucial new evidence was uncovered.
‘As a former consumer litigator I am utterly convinced that over 2,000 of my constituents and over half a million people in the UK are owed cashback from ScottishPower.
‘Given this is a scandal of potentially huge proportions, will the Prime Minister agree to meet with me and the cross-party APPG to discuss how we can ensure that these ordinary hard working people receive the cashback they were promised from ScottishPower?’
Mr Cameron replied: ‘I am glad the honourable gentleman has raised and I know the cross party group has done some very useful work.
‘My understanding is of course, look, any alleged wrong doing should be fully investigated.
‘Ofgem can impose fines if they find companies have breached their licence and I am very happy to arrange for a meeting between him and other members of the All-Party Group with the relevant minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change so we can try and get this fixed.’