Three former executives of G4S Care and Justice Services have been charged with defrauding the Ministry of Justice.
Richard Morris, former managing director of the company, and two ex-directors of its electronic monitoring business – former commercial director Mark Preston and former finance manager James Jardine – are each charged with seven counts of fraud.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday accused of committing the offences in relation to false representations made to the MoJ between 2009 and 2012, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said.
Morris, 45, from High Wycombe; Preston, 49, from Cheshire and Jardine, 38, from Cumbria, are due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on October 6.
Electronic monitoring services
G4S Care and Justice provided electronic monitoring services to the government from 2005 to 2013.
The company, a subsidiary of G4S, was accused of misleading the MoJ over the extent of its profits from the tagging contract between 2011 and 2012.
In July this year it was announced that the firm accepted responsibility for three counts of fraud and agreed to pay a financial penalty of £38.5 million and the SFO’s full costs of £5.9 million.
The agreement between the company and the SFO meant that G4S could continue to be considered as a government supplier.
The agreement applied only to the potential criminal liability of G4S Care and Justice Services as a company, and not whether any liability attaches to any employees or former employees.
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
