The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has abandoned a trial against three former G4S executives they had accused of defrauding the Ministry of Justice over a prisoner-tagging contract.
Richard Morris, Mark Preston and James Jardine were charged with seven offences of fraud in relation to alleged false representations made to the Ministry of Justice between 2009 and 2012. They had been due to face trial next year – 10 years after the SFO began its investigation.
But the prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC said the SFO was offering no evidence against them, and the reasons for offering no evidence were “multi-faceted” and that a decision to drop the case was “not one taken quickly or lightly”.
He added: “The prosecution recognises that the defendants, all men of good character, have been under suspicion for 10 years. The prosecution is only too aware of the impact these proceedings will have had on them and on their families.”
In 2020 the SFO and G4S agreed a £44m deal to settle three fraud offences against the Ministry of Justice between 2011 and 2012 where G4S accepted responsibility for deceiving the government about the true extent of profits it was earning on a prisoner-tagging contract.
The company was able to avoid criminal prosecution but the deal did not address whether any employee was guilty.
Mr Morris was managing director at G4S Care and Justice, Mr Preston was commercial director of the electronic monitoring division and Mr Jardine was finance manager and acting commercial director of that unit.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC said he recognised “the potential unfairness” of asking for this to go on for a substantial period of further time, adding: “We regret the way the case has turned out.”
The Judge Mr Justice Johnson went on to formally acquit the three men on all the charges.
Ross Dixon, representing Mr Morris, said: “Ten years is far too long for any individual to have to wait for justice. It is deeply worrying that after such a long time, only now has the SFO offered no evidence.”
Following his acquittal, Mr Morris said that he was “delighted”, adding that the allegations against him were “plainly wrong”. He continued: “That it has taken 10 years for the SFO to acknowledge as much is a scandal.”
G4S operates in 85 countries, with contracts ranging from defence, health and vehicle parking. In the UK, its Care and Justice arm runs prisons, immigration services and the electronic monitoring of offenders. The company has been operating in the care and justice area since the opening of the first private prison in 1992.
(Source: BBC)
