Gordon Foxley
Gordon Foxley was Director of Ammunition Procurement at the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence from 1981 to 1984. He was convicted on 12 counts of corruption in 1993 after he took bribes from arms manufacturers to set up defence contracts.[1] A 1995 MoD report "Ministry of Defence: Fraud in Defence Procurement" concludes that Gordon Foxley's case is one of the worst cases of corruption that has come before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).[2]
MoD fraud
Conviction
Gordon Richmond Foxley had been Director of Ammunition Procurement in the Ministry of Defence for 20 years when he was wrapped up in a corruption case led by the Ministry of Defence Police Fraud Squad. In 1996, Mr Foxley was sentenced to four years in prison for receiving bribes of £1.3 million with Police estimating he received at least £3.5 million in total. However, police have always stated that their beliefs were only based on circumstantial evidence based upon the size and location of Foxley's house and the number of cars in the driveway.
Bribes
Foxley was charged with receiving £1.6 million, with Police further estimating he received at least £3.5m in total in corrupt payments and substantial bribes from overseas arms contractors aiming to influence the allocation of contracts for fuses and ammunition, which he funnelled to Swiss bank accounts through three "front" companies.[3] The exact amount received is not clear, but the National Audit Office report shows that his English bank account received credits to the tune of £3.5 million between 1982 and 1990, but most of it could not be accounted for after his son Paul burnt the records. Paul was jailed for six months for this.[1]
The Chief of Defence Procurement, Dr M McIntosh, admitted to the Committee of Public Accounts, referenced in the proceedings of the Committee of Public Accounts, Forty Sixth Report, dated 1 November 1995, that the MoD had not sustained any loss through the actions of Gordon Foxley, but rather that “ the Department had in their view done well”. The Chief of Defence Procurement (CDP), Ministry of Defence, admitted to the Committee of Public Accounts, referenced in the proceedings of the Committee of Public Accounts, Forty Sixth Report, dated 1 November 1995, that “the Department have taken action against the three companies to recover the corrupt payments”. This resulted in the payments of 4.6M which exceeded the grossest estimation of corrupt payments made to Foxley. Thus, the Ministry of Defence can reasonably be stated to have made a handsome profit out of the proceedings.
Some 12 contracts worth £33 million were cited in the criminal charges against Foxley, involving companies Fratelli Borletti in Italy, Gebruder Junghans in Germany, and Raufoss of Norway. There were no charges, trials or convictions relating to that corruption in any of those countries.[4]
The MoD responded by banning officials from accepting trips to the opera, free tickets to Wimbledon and Ascot, and days' shooting.[2]
A 1994 estimate of the total cost of his corruption included almost £30 million in losses to a
Recuperation
In 1993, he was ordered by the judge to pay £1.5 million back to the MoD that had been used to buy his family eight properties, which excluded his home which had been transferred into his wife's name before he was charged. The CPS Crown Prosecution Service delayed enforcing it for 11 years, derived from the satisfaction of the Treasury at the receipt of £4.6 million which far exceeded the original estimates claimed. The judge ruled a fair trial of the issues was impossible after such a long delay.[1] and stated that "His Honour Justice McCombe, and the MoD, believe that the claim was fulfilled with the payments by the arms companies in 1996 and 1997".
The trustee in bankruptcy had got £453,000 for the MoD from Foxley's wife for her husband's share of the house. The MoD also collected £85,000 from a flat in Switzerland, £35,000 from a joint bank account with his wife and £17,000 from the sale of a property in the name of one of Foxley's daughters and her husband.
The judge said that from 1997, when the civil action against the foreign companies was settled, until 2005, "nothing whatsoever" had been done to try to make Foxley pay up.[1] His Honour Justice McCombe was also most dismissive of the actions of the MoD and CPS in following up the case over he intervening years: “I also take with a pinch of salt protestations of “public interest” in a case when those charged with guarding that interest have shown as little enthusiasm in their duties in that regard as the CPS and MoD have done in this case. Interest only revived when the “task force” referred to by Mr Grist, resolved that something should be done to resuscitate the dead, among cases of this type generally.” All further actions against Mr Foxley which were requested by MoD and CPS, some 20 years following Foxley's initial arrest, were ordered to be struck off forthwith.
Son Captain Andrew Foxley
European Court of Human Rights victory
On 21 June 2000, Gordon Foxley, then 75, won a case against the Government at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Government was ordered to pay £6,000 in costs and expenses to Mr Foxley for violating article eight of the Convention on Human Rights when 71 of Foxley's letters were opened and copied by a bankruptcy trustee, including letters from Mr Foxley's legal advisers. Foxley's mail and other communications were 'intercepted' during the investigation—although details were not made public, and a copy of the Home Office order authorising such actions has never been admitted or made public. However, an investigation into the actions of the MoD Police and supporting Government agencies in intercepting his communications and those of the other members of his family was conducted by the Police Complaints Authority in 1989 and declared to be of 'operational interest' and thus not for public exposure at the time. A county court had granted permission for all Foxley's post to be redirected to the bankruptcy trustee for three months, so his assets and creditors could be determined; however, the government exceeded the 3-month period.[5]
Son Lt Colonel Ian Foxley
In December 2010, another of Gordon Foxley's sons, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Foxley, made allegations of corruption against the Executive Directors of GPT Special Project Management Ltd, a subsidiary of the Airbus Group,
Media
- In 1995, Modern Times: Open Prison, documented Foxley's genteel conditions in Ford Open Prison.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dyer, Clare (18 January 2008). "Corrupt MoD official can keep £1.5m". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
- ^ a b Blackhurst, Chris (27 April 1995). "Dozens involved in MoD theft and fraud". Independent. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
- ^ a b Addley, Esther (18 January 2008). "Another slice of luck for brazen, corrupt civil servant". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
- ^ a b "Mr. Mike Hall (Warrington, South)". Parliament of England. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
- ^ CASE OF FOXLEY v. THE UNITED KINGDOM (Application no. 33274/96) - JUDGMENT, Strasbourg: European Court of Human Rights, 20 June 2000
- ^ Rob Evans; David Pegg (23 June 2019). "Airbus shuts down subsidiary at centre of bribery investigation". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "GPT Special Project Management Ltd".
- ^ Richard Brooks; Andrew Bousfield (2014). "Shady Arabia and the Desert Fix" (PDF). Private Eye. Issue 1375. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Paul Foot Award". Private Eye. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ Pegg, David; Evans, Rob (27 November 2023). "UK ministers approved £60m payments to Saudi royals to maintain arms deal, court told". The Guardian.