Neol Corry, 56, the former Coca-Cola manager, accepted bribes from the other companies, helping them with the sensitive data of Coca-Cola, worth £1.5 million ($1.95 million, 1.8 million euros) or more. He shared the data with the companies like Boulting Group, Tritec Systems, and Electron Systems, from 2004 to 2013. The data helped the companies in winning the bids.
Corry, of Lymm, Cheshire, was suspended for 20 months and the companies involved were fined for the same.
Gary Haines, 60, of Market Drayton, Shropshire, was also suspended for 20 months, along with the former contract manager at Boulting, Peter Kinsella, who was given a suspension of 12 months.
Alistair Dickson of the Crown Prosecution Service said, “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.” Adding, “Coca-Cola Enterprises were wholly unaware of Corry’s corrupt actions to enrich himself.”
Boulting Group – now named WABGS Ltd – was fined £500,000, while the other two companies were made to pay £70,000, for failing to prevent bribery.
Bogus contracts
Prosecutors said that Neol Corry received payments for “bogus” contracts for Coca-Cola Enterprises for work that was never carried out, or that the firm had had to pay more than the real price for the work, and the difference was set accordingly.
According to the sources, it was found that Neol Corry received at least £950,000 from Boulting, which was said to have benefited by £13m from this corruption deal, while Tritec Systems and Electron Systems paid £600,000 or more than that before Noel was induced.
Bribes were delivered to Neol through shell companies Alpha Windows and Trojan Ltd, both owned by his brother-in-law, or through axial partnership, in which he was a partner at the company.
Also, payment was delivered through sponsorship and some payments were delivered to a football club in Droylsden, where he was the president.
The court heard that Corry, a senior engineering manager who was responsible for identifying electrical services contractors for bottling plants in the UK, have to sell his family home and also hand over his pension as pay to Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd after the discovery of his bribes of nine years.
Published By : Akshita Katoch
Edited By : Vanshika Sahu
