The former manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE) responsible for a £1.5m bribery scam has been handed a suspended jail sentence.
Noel Corry, 56, a former electrical and automation manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE), was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 21 months, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court. He was also told to pay costs of £5,000.
The court heard Corry accepted cash bribes, free tickets to sports and entertainment events as well as sponsorship for his local football club, Droylsden FC near Manchester.
A total of £1.5m was paid by Boulting Group Limited (now trading as WABGS Limited), Tritec Systems Limited, and Electron Systems Limited. Corry accepted the bribes in exchange for confidential information to help with tenders. He pleaded guilty to five counts of corruption.
The companies that paid the bribes have also been sentenced in what police described as the first time firms have been prosecuted for failing to prevent bribery.
Corry’s wrongdoing was uncovered after the procurement team at CCE became suspicious.
It was found Corry created “fresh air contracts” with the companies in which no work was required to be performed, or had CCE pay more for work than the actual amount charged and would receive the difference.
Alistair Dickinson, spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Corry established a corrupt culture in the procurement exercise, awarding contracts to those companies whose senior managers were prepared to bribe him for doing so.”
Dickinson said Corry’s “corrupt actions” were purely to “enrich himself”, and said the contracting companies should have established compliance measures which would have prevented and exposed such practices.
WABGS Limited was fined £500,000 with costs of £10,000 for failing to prevent bribery. Between 2007-13 the company benefited from contracts with CCE worth over £13m.
Tritec Systems and Electron Systems were each fined £70,000 and costs of £10,000.
Dep Supt John Roch, head of economic crime at the Metropolitan Police, said: “This is the first time the Met has charged and convicted a company with failure to prevent bribery and sends a strong message to individuals out there who seek to create an advantage for their business.
“Corry’s role was one of power; he was the subject matter lead within Coca Cola Enterprises UK and although he did not make the final decision on competitive tenders, his opinion carried considerable influence with both the project managers and procurement team.”
Gary Haines, former director at Tritec Systems, was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, suspended for 21 months, after he paid bribes of just over £600,000 to Corry between 2011-13.
Peter Kinsella, former regional manager at Boulting Group, enabled £350,000 of bribes to Corry between 2008-13. Kinsella was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 21 months.
Kinsella and Haines were each ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £5,000.
A CCE spokesperson said: “We are pleased to see these convictions. Today’s verdict brings to an end a lengthy investigation into serious acts of fraud committed against our business by certain suppliers.
“We are particularly disappointed that a former colleague abused his position of trust within our business and accepted bribes from these suppliers.”
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