The former Welsh//Slate directors jailed for fraud after falsifying sales figures have had assets worth almost £250,000 confiscated this month under the Proceeds of Crime Act by a judge at Caernarfon Crown Court.
Last September, former Managing Director Christopher Law was sent to prison for two-and-a-half years for his part in a £10million fraud involving the inflation of sales figures with false orders over a three-year period.
Two of his colleagues, Operations Director Geraint Roberts and head of sales Paul Harvey, were sentenced to 16 months and 10 months, respectively, for their part in the deception, although both have since been released from custody.
After the fraud was discovered in 2007, Welsh//Slate’s former parent company, Alfred McAlpine, suffered a £40million dent in their profits. The Welsh//Slate business was sold ahead of the takeover of Alfred McAlpine by Carillion and around 130 workers at Welsh//Slate’s quarries in Bethesda, Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Nantlle Valley lost their jobs.
The court heard that the fraud was not designed to enrich the trio of executives directly, but to make their management of Welsh//Slate appear more successful than it was.
Nevertheless, Chris Law was said to have benefited by £406,023 in bonuses and salaries as a result of the deception. He has been ordered to repay £186,914 within nine months or face a further 18 months in jail.
Paul Harvey was said to have benefited by £227,451 and will have to repay £38,685 within six months or face nine months in jail. He has also been ordered to pay £16,000 in defence costs within 12 months.
Geraint Roberts, said to have benefited by £199,516, was given three months to repay £17,899 or face six months in jail.
Judge Merfyn Hughes QC said that although the total sum of £243,499 he had ordered to be repayed was less than a third of the amount earned through the three-year fraud, it was based on the three men’s available assets.