The investigation into Torex Retail, the troubled software group, widened yesterday after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) conducted a second round of dawn raids on two homes and an office.

The SFO announced that it had made raids, along with the City of London Police, on residential addresses in Warwickshire and Gloucestershire as well as conducting a search of business premises in Banbury.

The headquarters of Torex Retail UK and Torex Retail’s group head office are both in Banbury.

However, Torex Retail said in a statement that the business premises referred to by the SFO were not those of Torex Retail or any other member of the Torex Retail group.

Square Green, a pension advisory company run by Sarah Jane Moore, the wife of the former Torex Retail chairman Chris Moore, operates from the same business site as Torex Retail.

There is no suggestion that Square Green is the business premises that was raided by the SFO yesterday. The Times revealed that Square Green had been paid £100,000 last year to arrange benefit packages for Torex Retail’s executives and directors as well as putting together pensions for the group’s 3,000 staff.

The SFO raided addresses connected to Torex Retail on January 29 and 30, when it began its inquiry into the group. Along with the City of London Police, the SFO searched two residences in Oxfordshire and a house in Warwickshire, believed to be owned by former directors at the company.

The Financial Services Authority and the London Stock Exchange are also investigating the AIM-listed Torex Retail, which suspended its shares in late January.

Torex Retail also announced yesterday that Mr Moore had resigned from the board with immediate effect. He had relinquished his role as chairman on January 31 but agreed to remain on Torex Retail’s board. At the same time, Neil Mitchell, chief executive, also stepped down and is still a member of the group’s board.

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