Andy Behagg of Greenvale AP was found guilty of corruption at Croydon Crown Court on Tuesday for paying bribes to Sainsbury’s potato buyer John Maylam.
Bahagg, former Greenvale finance director, will be sentenced next month with Maylam and Greenvale’s operating officer David Baxter who had both already admitted to corruption at an earlier hearing.
The court found Behagg authorised payments in return for contracts with Sainsbury’s despite claiming he was a victim of Maylam’s “extortion” during 2006-08.
The prosecution successfully proved its case that Sainsbury’s was overcharged to the tune £3.8 million by Greenvale. This extra money went into an account - dubbed The Fund by the three men. From there some of it was channelled to Maylam who ran up lavish expenses and took cash payments of thousands of pounds in brown envelopes.
Their crime was only uncovered when a Greenvale employee was suspicious at being asked to withdraw £5,000 bundles of £50 notes from a local bank branch.
In a statement, Produce Investments, which owns Greenvale AP said: “We have 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 and we continue to be one of the largest supplier of potatoes to shoppers all over the country.
“We acquired the company in early 2006. In December 2007 it became clear to us that there might be financial discrepancies involving the company's commercial relationship with Sainsbury's. After a thorough investigation carried out on our behalf by accountants and legal advisers, we reported what was found to Sainsbury's in March 2008 with a view to jointly alerting the police.
“Our investigations showed that £3.2 million - rather than the figure mentioned in court - had been disbursed improperly and all such arrangements were stopped immediately.
“After further investigations, Mr Behagg and the operations director, Mr Baxter, were required to resign. Mr Baxter pleaded guilty at the start of these proceedings.
“A new management structure has been in place since we discovered the improper payments.”
Sainsbury’s called the crime against it “unacceptable and calculated”, In a statement on Tuesday the retailer said: “We are pleased that justice has been done with today’s verdict and we would like to thank the police for their thorough investigation that led to the conviction of John Maylam and David Baxter in 2011 and Andrew Behagg today.”
