Former Serco bosses cleared of hiding £ 12million in profits on electronic labeling contracts | UK News

Two former Serco executives have been allowed to hide £ 12million in profits on the company’s government electronic tagging contracts after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped the lawsuits.

Former senior executives Nicholas Woods, 51, and Simon Marshall, 59, were tried at Southwark Crown Court on charges of fraud against the Department of Justice (MoJ) between 2011 and 2013.

But on Monday, Judge Ms Justice Tipples ordered jurors to acquit Mr Woods – Serco’s former finance director of home affairs – and Mr Marshall – former director of field service operations – of a joint charge of fraud on the or circa August 11, 2011.

Mr. Marshall was also cleared of two other counts of fraud on or around June 6, 2012 and on or around January 18, 2013.

It comes after the OFS offered no further evidence following an unsuccessful adjournment request after problems with the disclosure process, where prosecutors are expected to make relevant documents available to the defense.

The judge told jurors that the OFS was of the opinion that the issues identified had “undermined the disclosure process in this case as the trial could not be conducted in a safe and fair manner.”

This ends an investigation opened in October 2013, which saw Serco fined more than £ 19million in 2019 under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA).

This was in addition to the £ 12.8million compensation already paid to the Justice Department as part of a £ 70million civil settlement in 2013.

Serco Geografix, the UK subsidiary of the company, took responsibility for three fraud offenses and two false accounting offenses committed between 2010 and 2013, related to the underestimation of profits from contracts with the Department of Justice.

Andrew Katzen, representing Mr. Woods, said: “Although the decision of the OFS to abandon its …