Two admit potato deal bribe claim

Directors at a potato supplier in Shropshire lavished £5m of gifts and hospitality on an executive at Sainsbury's for granting them a £40 million contract, a court heard.

Buyer John Maylam, 44, ran up a £200,000 bill at London's Claridge's Hotel, enjoyed a £350,000 trip to the Monaco Grand Prix and received cash payments totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from potato giants Greenvale AP of Market Drayton, Croydon Crown Court was told.

Maylam, of Maidstone, yesterday pleaded guilty to corruption by accepting the gifts and acquiring criminal property.

Greenvale's account manager David Baxter, 50, of Hinstock, near Market Drayton, also pleaded guilty to corruptly giving Maylam gifts and consideration and acquiring criminal property, namely goods, services and cash between June 1 and July 1 2007.

Both men will be sentenced after the trial of Greenvale finance director Andrew Behagg, 60, of Cambridge, who denies corruption.