Corrupt director faces jail over potato scam

A director at a potato supplier with a site in Shropshire has been told he faces a significant jail term after being found guilty of paying bribes worth millions of pounds to a buyer at supermarket giant Sainsbury's.

Andrew Behagg, 60, from food supplier Greenvale, which has a site at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, authorised the corrupt payments to buyer John Maylam in return for lucrative contracts worth millions.

Croydon Crown Court heard thousands of pounds in cash was stuffed into brown envelopes and handed to Maylam, who splashed out on lavish meals and stays at top London hotels.

Behagg, of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, was yesterday convicted by a jury of corruption. He is expected to be sentenced on June 22 with Maylam, and Greenvale account manager David Baxter, 50, of Hinstock, near Market Drayton, who both admitted corruption.

Sainsbury's today welcomed the outcome.

A spokesman said: "This was an unacceptable and calculated crime against Sainsbury's of a magnitude never experienced in our history. We are pleased that justice has been done.

"Today's verdict sends a very clear message to anyone who behaves in this way that there are consequences to their actions."

In a statement Produce Investments, the owners of Greenvale, said: "We instigated this investigation and have since then introduced new procedures to make sure that such abuse can never happen again. Our relationship with Sainsbury's is now on a footing as before."

In court, Judge Nicholas Ainley said: "For any case of this magnitude a sentence of imprisonment is almost inevitably passed, and a significant one at that."

Prosecutors said Sainsbury's was overcharged by a total of £3.8 million by the potato supplier. The extra money went into an account, then some of it was channelled to Maylam, of Maidstone, Kent.

The buyer would incur expenses of £20,000 a month, spending the cash on expensive restaurants and exclusive hotels including Claridge's and The Dorchester, the court heard.

The crime was uncovered when a Greenvale employee grew suspicious when he was asked to withdraw £5,000 bundles in £50 notes from a small local bank.