UK's SFO drops prosecution of three former G4S executives

The UK's Serious Fraud Office on Friday dropped its criminal prosecution of three former executives at security company G4S for allegedly defrauding the British government over an electronic tagging contract. The three ex-employees of G4S subsidiary G4S Care and Justice Services, which had a contract to electronically monitor criminal defendants and released prisoners, had been charged with seven counts of fraud by false representation between 2009 and 2012.

The UK's Serious Fraud Office on Friday dropped its criminal prosecution of three former executives at security company G4S for allegedly defrauding the British government over an electronic tagging contract.

The three ex-employees of G4S subsidiary G4S Care and Justice Services, which had a contract to electronically monitor criminal defendants and released prisoners, had been charged with seven counts of fraud by false representation between 2009 and 2012. Former managing director Richard Morris, 47, ex-commercial director Mark Preston, 51, and former finance manager James Jardine, 41, had denied all of the charges.

Their trial was supposed to begin in January, but was adjourned because of disclosure issues. An application by the defendants to halt the prosecution was due to be heard later this month. However, the SFO's lawyer Crispin Aylett told Judge Jeremy Johnson at London's Old Bailey that the agency had decided that it is "no longer in the public interest to proceed with this case".