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A construction company boss and the developer he tried to bribe in order to win a lucrative contract have both been jailed.
Stephen Banks, former managing director of Skansen Interiors Limited, gave Graham Deakin, of DTZ Ltd, £10,000 and promised him a further £29,000 in return for confidential information about a prime London commercial development in 2012 and 2013.
Banks hoped to use the information to help Skansen Interiors Limited gain contracts through DTZ.
Skansen won contracts in excess of £6m.
Banks and Deakin pleaded guilty to bribery at an earlier hearing.
Banks was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment and was disqualified as a director for six years and Deakin was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment and was disqualified as a director for seven years at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.
Deakin was also ordered to pay £10,697 within three months or face a further seven months in prison.
Skansen Interiors Limited was previously convicted of failing to have in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery.
Anne Louise McCusker, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Banks and Deakin worked together in their criminal scheme to promote the commercial interests of Skansen Interiors Limited over other companies who tendered for contracts in good faith.
“Only when a new managing director took over at Skansen Interiors Limited was the criminal conduct discovered and reported to police.
“This criminal conduct is corrosive to commerce and undermines the economic interests of the City of London and the United Kingdom as a whole.”
Skansen Interiors Limited is now a dormant company, part of Skansen Group Limited.
At an earlier hearing in February, Skansen Interiors Limited was given an absolute discharge after the court ruled it had no assets for a financial penalty to be imposed.
A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield said: “Graham Deakin left DTZ in October 2014. We conducted a full investigation and co-operated fully with the police and other investigations.”
Skansen has been contacted for comment.
