Cheshire: Ex Coca Cola manager took £1.5million in bribes

Noel Corry, from Lymm, admitted five counts of corruption and bribery for taking backhanders in the form of the huge payments, as well as concert and football tickets.

As a senior engineering manager responsible for electrical services for Coca Cola bottling plants in the UK, the 56-year-old could dish out contracts in return for bribes – a corrupt practice that spanned more than nine years.

But he has been spared prison for his deceit.

Southwark Crown Court heard last week that detectives raided Corry’s home and found a document on his work computer named Slush, detailing funds coming in and what he had spent money on – including tickets to the pop concerts and leading tennis tournament.

He was employed by Coca Cola Enterprises UK for 16 years and began taking bribes in January 2004 until August 2013, when he was sacked from the company.

Corry, of Linden Close, took these perks in exchange for awarding contracts to companies and conspired with senior managers of favoured firms, enabling them to get contracts to carry out electrical services.

However, either very little or no work at all was ever carried out or even needed in the first place.

The other scam he ran was to set up the contracts that would generate funds for the companies involved, which were then applied for Corry’s benefit in the form of bribes.

This was in exchange for Corry giving the Warrington-based Boulting Group Ltd as well as Tritec Systems Ltd and Electron Systems Ltd with confidential and sensitive information which put them at a commercial advantage over their rivals in contract bids.

Two other executives at these firms and three limited companies themselves were also charged over the conspiracy.

Corry was sentenced to 20 months in jail, suspended for 21 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Peter Kinsella, of Manchester was handed a 12-month imprisonment suspended for 21 months and 200 hours of community service after the 58-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of corruption and three counts of conspiracy to bribe.

Peter Kinsella

Sixty-one-year-old Gary Haines, of Shropshire, was sentenced to 20 months suspended for 21 months plus 200 hours of unpaid work after admitting corruption.

Boulting Group, now known as WABGS Ltd, was handed a £500,000 fine after the firm pleaded guilty to one count of failure to prevent bribery.

Hampshire-based Tritec Systems Ltd was fined £70,000 after admitting one count of corruption and one count of failure to prevent bribery.

Electron Systems Ltd, which is headquartered in Durham, was given a £70,000 fine after pleading guilty to one charge of corruption and one of failure to prevent bribery.

Each company was also ordered to pay £10,000 in court costs, while each individual defendant was ordered to pay £5,000.

Detective superintendent John Roch, head of the Metropolitan Police’s economic crime unit, said: “Corry, Haines and Kinsella worked hard to present themselves as reputable, reliable and genuine businessmen but in fact they were the exact opposite.

“Each played a different part in the corruption and bribery that amounted to around £1.5million in financial gain for Corry.

“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.

“I’d like to thank Coca Cola Enterprises UK for assisting and supporting this investigation.

“We have worked closely with them throughout the case, and I am pleased we were able to provide justice through today’s sentences.

“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.

“The Met’s economic crime team sits under specialist crime, and investigates serious and complex financial crime, fraud and money laundering. The detectives who worked on this case have distinct areas of expertise, and it is with thanks to their hard work and dedication we have achieved today’s result.”

Boulting Group Ltd, where Peter Kinsella was regional manager, was a substantial private engineering company with a turnover of over £100million per year.

It was found that Boulting was grossly negligent in preventing the offences occurring and failed to put in place means by which bribery would be uncovered.

Detectives calculated the company benefited from £13million on contracts obtained through bribery.

Tritec Systems Ltd and Electron Systems Ltd were both controlled by managing director Gary Haines, but they were substantially smaller with a turnover of around £1million.

Haines and Kinsella paid Corry substantial sums in cash which were passed through a company he had formed, named Trojon Ltd.

Gary Haines

This company had no staff or premises, but received large sums of cash, tickets to concerts and sporting events and holidays.

Corry also received sponsorship of Droylsden FC, of which he was honorary president.

Officers arrested Corry at his home in November 2013, and a large amount of hard copy and digital evidence was seized by police.

Detectives also found evidence of Corry’s involvement in corrupt practices, passing of confidential information to others, false invoicing and extracting payment from others – including through the use of Trojon Ltd, a corporate body of which he had control.

Alistair Dickson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “Corry had established a corrupt culture in the procurement exercise, awarding contracts to those companies whose senior managers were prepared to bribe him for doing so.

“Coca Cola Enterprises was wholly unaware of Corry’s corrupt actions to enrich himself.

“The contracting companies should have had in place compliance measures which would have prevented the payments being made and led to the corruption being exposed.”