Four guilty over £6m NHS contracts corruption

Yahoo

29-04-2025

Four men have been convicted after a £6m corruption and bribery probe involving health boards across Scotland.
Contracts awarded to Oricom Ltd, founded by Adam Sharoudi and Gavin Brown, for telecoms and video conferencing equipment between 2010 and 2017 breached rules on financial wrongdoing during the tendering process.
An investigation found the company was given "commercially sensitive information" by former NHS employees Alan Hush and Gavin Cox, who received a combined £88,000 in cash and gifts in return.
They were found guilty of a string of charges including bribery, corruption, fraud, theft as well as others under the Proceeds of Crime Act at the High Court in Glasgow.
The court heard Sahroudi, 41, and Brown, 48, did "acquire, use and possess" a total of £5,719,244 of "criminal property" paid by NHS Lothian, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
One single contract was worth £3.1m, the trial was told.
Five men face £6.5m NHS Scotland bribery trial
Brown founded Oricom in Irvine in 2008 with colleague David Bailey, who had charges against him dropped earlier in the trial.
Sharoudi joined as a director and later became friends with Hush, 68, who was telecommunications manager at NHS Lothian and then NHS Scotland video conferencing manager.
Hush said he first became aware of Oricom in about 2010.
Brown told jurors he believed they "could provide a better service" than some of the well-known companies, leading to Oricom getting a number of big health board contracts.
However, in 2015, its offices were raided – including by investigators from NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services – following concerns into how the deals were secured.
It resulted in the Oricom directors as well as Hush and Cox being arrested and charged.
Hush, of Leith, Edinburgh, was said to have "failed to instigate a proper tendering process" for work Oricom secured.
He also "ferreted about" in a "deception" to obtain false "dodgy" quotes to help the firm get the lucrative business.
He was described as "the big cheese" in the NHS telecoms department.
Investigators found a text exchange between Sharoudi and Hush in which Hush said that he wanted to "get some commission".
He claimed during the trial that had been a "joke" and any money received had been money from his now late father – who "kept a box of £20 notes in his wardrobe".
However, it was claimed Hush had used the firm as the "Bank of Oricom" for his help in getting them business including a £750,000 contract with NHS Lothian.
He was handed Eurostar train tickets, stays at the Troy and Re Hotels in London, a laptop, an iPad, meals, and concert tickets to see Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright and Patti Smith for his part in helping Oricom secure the contracts.
Sharoudi, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, told his KC Brian McConnachie that Hush repaid for anything Oricom had purchased for him.
Cox, of Cathcart, Glasgow was head of IT and infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire.
He denied being "bribed" by Oricom and that any contract with NHS Lanarkshire was won "fair and square".
He was accused of giving Oricom the "heads up" with information to give them a "commercial advantage" to secure business.
It was suggested it was "not a level playing field" for other bidders.
Brown had been a guest at Cox's surprise 50th birthday party.
His "rewards" had been said to include hospitality at the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, a night at the Loch Green Hotel in Troon and a meal at Elliots in Prestwick.
Jurors heard he also got thousands of pounds worth of Barrhead Travel holiday vouchers which allowed him to go on trips to New York and Lanzarote.
Cox said he believed they were gifts to his wife – a newspaper advertising manager – from Brown's partner who she had become friends with.
Prosecutors stated this was "a remarkable coincidence".
Cox also denied ever getting a series of cash handouts from Oricom.
He also used some of the money he was given to pay for an "extension and landscaping" at a property in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, which he claimed had been paid for from an inheritance from his father.
In total, Hush was given £18,231 of cash bungs and gifts, while Cox was handed more than £70,000.
Brown also knew another NHS Lanarkshire telecoms official who has since died.
Among the charges was one that Oricom in effect bribed him to secure work including a near £700,000 deal.
Prosecutors further said smaller "inducements" were given to an IT official who worked at both NHS Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow and Clyde health boards as well as a woman with NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Hush was found guilty of nine charges, Cox two, Sharoudi seven and Brown a total of six.
The jury spent eight days in deliberation after a three month trial.
Lawyers for all four had asked for them to remain on bail, however Lord Arthurson remanded them in custody.
He described corruption as a "cancer in public life".
He added: "The jury has determined that you collectively engaged, to varying degrees, in a deeply cynical, highly corrupt, coldly calculated and criminal betrayal of the welfare state and, ultimately, the taxpayer.
"You should expect nothing less than the imposition of significant custodial sentences."
Sentencing is due to take place on 5 June in Edinburgh.
They also face separate hearings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.