On 30 May 2019 the SFO issued a press release announcing that Carol Ann Hodson, the former director and owner of a company named ALCA Fasteners Ltd (ALCA), pleaded guilty to paying bribes amounting to £300,000 in order to secure contracts worth £12m. The bribes were paid to purchasing manager1 of a German company over the course of five years and, according to a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) press release, the bribes were paid monthly in cash instalments and on one occasion, Ms Hodson sent jewelry in a brown envelope to the purchasing manager.
Ms Hodson pleaded guilty at her first appearance at Walsall Magistrates’ Court. Pleading at this stage (at the first opportunity) meant that she would have received a one-third discount, off of her sentence.
1 The purchasing manager, Terje Moe, pleaded guilty on 6th July 2018 in Norway to two charges relating to the receipt of bribes.
To read the full GT Alert, click here.