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Corrupt NHS official jailed for £80k bribe over tech contract

And the dodgy IT contractor? He got 14 months bird time to think about life

An NHS official who pocketed £80,000 in bribes for doling out lucrative IT contracts has been sentenced to three and half years in the slammer, while the techie contractor who benefited from them was given 14 months.

Peter Lewis, 57, of Windlesham, admitted receiving corrupt payments from Richard Moxon, 41, of Wynbury in Cheshire, in return for awarding him an IT contract worth £950,000 in the first year.

Lewis was employed as director of informatics at Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, but was dismissed for gross misconduct in 2011, when the Trust conducted a disciplinary investigation into his relationship with another supplier.

The Trust subsequently passed the case on to Surrey Police, who found that 40 per cent of the IT product supplied by Moxon did not meet the needs of the Trust.

While the Trust was able to recover some of the lost money by incorporating Moxon's software into a new system in August 2012, it still declared losses for the 2011/12 financial year of £433,000 in respect of the project. The direct fraud against the hospital was nearly £81,000.

The prosecution evidence showed that Lewis had approached Moxon for a bribe and subsequently had the money paid directly into the same bank account as his salary.

Each month Moxon would submit multiple invoices from different companies he controlled. The invoices were all at, or just below, £15,000, the value that Lewis was able to sign off without oversight.

In return for the arrangement, Moxon handed Lewis nine payments totalling £73,770, and made a further payment of £7,200 to a stables to whom Lewis owed money. All the payments were made between January and December 2011.

Lewis admitted one count of receiving corrupt payments at Guildford Crown Court on 21 November 2016. He was subsequently sentenced to three and a half years at Guildford Crown Court.

Richard Moxon admitted one count of giving corrupt payments at Guildford Crown Court on 8 March 2016. He was sentenced to fourteen months at Guildford Crown Court.

Surrey Police is now seeking a Confiscation Order to seize any available assets that Lewis may have. ®

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