Former UK Coca-Cola boss caught taking £1.5m in bribes

A former Coca-Cola boss in the UK on Thursday prevented prison regardless of taking more than £1.Five million ($1.95 million, 1.8 million euros) in bribes in return for channeling rewarding contracts to favored groups.

Noel Corry, 56, supplied businesses with private statistics to provide them an advantage over opponents while bidding for electrical offerings contracts for bottling flowers in the UK.

In go back, he acquired bills thru “bogus” contracts for work at Coca-Cola Enterprises that was never achieved, or overpaying for work achieved and pocketing the difference, prosecutors said.

At London’s Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, he was given a 20-month suspended sentence, while two directors of the other companies involved in the scheme, which ran between 2004 and 2013, were each given a 12-month suspended sentence.

“Corry had established a corrupt culture in the procurement exercise, awarding contracts to those companies whose senior managers were prepared to bribe him for doing so,” said Alistair Dickson of the Crown Prosecution Service.

“Coca-Cola Enterprises were wholly unaware of Corry’s corrupt actions to enrich himself.