The Seven Trent Water Crime Caper

bristol | drugs and crime | news report Wednesday July 02, 2008 20:01 by Emma

What is crime? Following fines in the tens of millions, white-collar crime gets off light

There is something fishy about how easy it is to get away with crime when you sit in an office in the Seven Trent Water Crime Caper?

To start with, the background is that Seven Trent water, who provides much of the water to the Bristol area, lied about many things to keep it's shareholders happy;

"Water regulator Ofwat has confirmed it is fining Severn Trent a record £35.8m for providing false information and poor customer service. Ofwat proposed the fine in April after finding customers had paid larger bills than needed because of the failings."

So what did the company have to say for itself? Here;

"Severn Trent bosses blamed "a previous regime" for the misconduct, saying those responsible had left the firm. The company said it "deeply regretted" its actions but would not take legal action against the former staff responsible."

So tens of thousands of people have money taken from them, the old bosses trigger a 2 year police investigation (which must costs lots) and at the end of it all, nobody has committed a crime? Last year they were also in the spotlight;

"Britain's second-largest water company faces the charges under the Water Industry Act, following a two-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and West Midlands Police. It focuses on the leakage data supplied to Ofwat in 2000, 2001 and 2002. No individuals are being charged but, if convicted, the company could be fined. "We believe it was a corporate offence. There's no suggestion that any individual gained any personal benefit from it," said an SFO spokesman this morning."

So they don't prosecute because nobody benefited? So why did the Fairford Five get taken to court in total 6 times? After all there is no suggestion that they benefited from the action.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7485006.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/22/severntr...ities