MoD official who took £70,000 kickbacks for commissioning military reports for ... trends now
A former Ministry of Defence official who took kickbacks worth more than £70,000 for commissioning military reports for Saudi Arabia has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Jeffrey Cook, 67, was the managing director of the Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management Ltd, whose sole business was working on the Saudi National Guard's communications.
Payments were made to members of the Saudi royal household including HRH Miteb bin Abdullah, Southwark Crown Court was told.
Cook helped funnel the money to officials in the National Guard in return for the work.
He received £45,000 in commissions, along with new cars worth a combined value of £30,000 for him and his wife, after persuading his boss to use £702,000 in MoD cash to pay for military reports.
Jeffrey Cook (pictured), 67, was the managing director of the Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management Ltd, whose sole business was working on the Saudi National Guard's communications
He received £45,000 in commissions, along with new cars worth a combined value of £30,000 for him and his wife, after persuading his boss to use £702,000 in MoD cash to pay for military reports. Pictured: Southwark Crown Court
John Mason, 81, the accountant and part-owner of GPT, was commissioned to write reports for the National Guard while Cook was at the MoD, the court heard.
Mason was said to have passed on 70 per cent to Saudi officials between 2007 and 2012 through Cayman-Island-registered 'Simtec companies'.
Cook and Mason admitted bribes were paid to the Saudis but insisted they were not the ones who knowingly made them.
They said the British government approved payments worth millions of pounds because they were in the country's 'best strategic interests.'
Cook and Mason denied and were both cleared of corruption by the jury.
Cook alone denied but was convicted of misconduct in public office, between 2004 and 2008, by 'seeking and receiving (in cash and in kind) a 'commission' on a contract or contracts which the MoD, his employer, placed with ME Consultants Limited, without reasonable justification or excuse'.
Mr Justice Picken told Cook: 'You made a personal gain at the expense of the public purse, receiving money that could have been used for the benefit of the public.'
Referring to the cars that Cook and his wife received the judge said: 'You denied that you received any personally for any personal benefit, denying that the vehicle transaction had any connection to the report.'
'This offence is so serious that only a custodial sentence can
