BRAKING NEWS

Further Norton chicanery, racers in lock down and other major stories.

This telling picture has emerged of former Norton boss Stuart Garner signing a contract with the MD of a Chinese scooter and engine manufacturer, apparently selling the rights to the 961 motor just before the irm went into administration.

Wu Huacong of the Jinlang Science and Technology Co said they did the deal at the end of 2019, four weeks before the administrators were called in at the end of January. Huacong said the deal includes the 961 engine platform and all of the engine tooling.

Jinlang claim the deal is not part of the administration process because it was done beforehand, and the irm say they are keen to acquire more Norton assets: ‘We are interested in further investments and we are paying close attention to the bidding. We will work with our design partner in Italy to develop a new motorcycle using the 961 engine, which we will sell worldwide.’ It’s not known how much Jinlang paid for the 961 engine package, or where the money went. Norton administrators BDO did not respond to Bike’s enquiries. Meanwhile, MPS from the Work and Pensions Committee are putting pressure on The Pensions Regulator (TPR), which is investigating Garner’s role in a scam that tricked people into handing over their pension funds to Norton. A total of £14m from 228 people was raised fraudulently and given to Norton. Garner claims he did not know about the fraud.

The MP’S letter to TPR said: ‘The arrangement began in 2012. Could TPR have acted before May 2019, some seven years later?’