Fraudster ordered to repay £41m

The Assets Recovery Agency said it believed the confiscation order was the largest amount secured under criminal proceedings to date.

Gerald Smith, 52, was jailed in September 2006 after Cambridge Crown Court heard he stole £35 million from a computer software company.

The qualified general practitioner, who has two daughters, used the money to buy a yacht and pay off interest on multi-million-pound business loans.

Many of the millions he swindled from software firm Izodia, based in Slough, Berks, should have gone to City institutions controlling pension funds.

At the time of his conviction, the Serious Fraud Office said the fraud was one of the largest they had dealt with.

Investigators said they believed Smith had assets of at least £20 million and they were confident of recovering most if not all of the stolen cash.

Smith, of Wentworth, Surrey, admitted theft and false accounting, but claimed he had lost everything and was penniless.

He was given two consecutive four-year jail sentences and banned from being a company director for 15 years. He has now been ordered to pay £40,956,911 within 12 months.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker, who has lead responsibility for asset recovery, congratulated the investigators on their "landmark achievement".