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The SFO has aban­doned its pro­sec­u­tion of three former exec­ut­ives.

 

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The Ser­i­ous Fraud Office has aban­doned its pro­sec­u­tion of three former exec­ut­ives at out­sourcer G4S for allegedly defraud­ing the gov­ern­ment over a pris­oner-tag­ging con­tract after delays left the case in tur­moil almost a dec­ade after it began. Yes­ter­day the SFO’s bar­ris­ter, Crispin Aylett KC, said it was «no longer in the pub­lic interest» to pro­ceed with the case, adding the «decision to drop » had not been taken «either quickly or lightly». Mr Justice Jeremy John­son recor­ded not guilty ver­dicts against the men, who he said had been «sub­ject to the jeop­ardy of crim­inal invest­ig­a­tion and pro­sec­u­tion for around 10 years». It had opened the inquiry into G4S’s pris­oner tag­ging con­tract in 2013.

The men were ori­gin­ally set to stand trial in Janu­ary last year but prob­lems with dis­clos­ure of evid­ence to the defence sent the SFO’s case spiralling into dis­ar­ray. On Monday, Aylett said the time and money that would need to be spent on sift­ing and hand­ing rel­ev­ant evid­ence to the defence meant con­tinu­ing was not feas­ible. « We have determ­ined it is no longer in the pub­lic interest to con­tinue this pro­sec­u­tion». The failed pro­sec­u­tion comes after G4S entered into a deferred pro­sec­u­tion agree­ment with the SFO.

Its care and justice unit paid £44mn in 2020 to settle three counts of fraud, for lying to the Min­istry of Justice about the true extent of profits on a pris­oner tag­ging con­tract.
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Comments

  1. Alfred11 March 2023 at 11:25

    And this is why things like these keep happening. It takes 10+ years to get somewhere or it just goes away on its own after some time. Of course this will keep happening...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary11 March 2023 at 11:35

      Exactly! If you started this, take it to the end, don't just tell us it's been 10 years and there's no money for this. Why have you wasted the time and money then?

      Delete
  2. John11 March 2023 at 12:12

    What a waste of money, energy and time? And for what? To just say you know what, 10 years of "jeopardy of criminal investigation and prosecution" is enough for them. They've suffered enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin11 March 2023 at 14:22

      Yeah, what kind of justice is that? And this is just one case, there are countless others that end this way. The more it drags on the better chances the guilty parties have of getting away with it. Disappointed in how they handled this.

      Delete

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