Bosses in slate firm fraud must pay back £250k

Feb 25 2010 by Our Correspondent, North Wales Weekly News

THREE slate firm managers jailed for inflating sales figures with more than £10m of false orders were made to pay back nearly £250,000 of the salaries and bonuses they earned from the fraud.

The former Welsh Slate executives – managing director Christopher Law, operations chief Geraint Roberts and sales head Paul Harvey – were between them ordered to repay £243,499.46 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

But the sum ordered to be repaid by Judge Merfyn Hughes QC at Caernarfon Crown Court was less than a third of the £832,991.47 earned through the three-year fraud, because it was based on their “available assets”.

The fraud at Welsh Slate delivered a £40m blow to parent company Alfred McAlpine’s profits, saw its share value plummet and led to the loss of 136 jobs at its three North Wales quarries in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Bethesda and the Nantlle Valley.

Law, 54, from Abergele, earned bonuses and salaries worth £406,023.23 from the deception and was ordered to repay £186,914.69.

He was given nine months to pay or warned he would face a further 18 months in jail. When he was originally jailed last September with his two colleagues, Law was named as the “principal actor” in the deceit.

Roberts, 58, of Llanberis was said to have benefited to the tune of £199,516.37. He was ordered to repay £17,899.58.

Harvey, 52, of Kent, received salary and bonus payments of up to £227,451.87. He was ordered to repay £38,685.19.

Roberts was given three months to pay or face six months in jail.

Harvey was told he had six months to find the cash or face nine months in jail. He was also ordered to pay up to £16,000 in defence costs within 12 months.

Last September, Law was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, Roberts 16 months and Harvey 10 months over the fraud. Only Law remains in custody.

The court heard how the three committed the fraud to make their management of Welsh Slate appear more successful than it was.