Britain
September 13, 2005
Mint manager 'coined £20,000 in kickbacks'
By Nicola Woolcock
A ROYAL MINT manager pocketed nearly £20,000 from an illicit deal with the
head of an African bank, a court was told yesterday.
Hector Williamson, 65, allegedly made the money from a “recoinage” contract
with the Central Bank of The Gambia.
The Royal Mint was supplying 40 million coins to the West African country.
But Junking Bayo, the bank’s manager, demanded payments to seal the
contract, insisting that he would use a competitor if no commission were
forth-coming. The court was told that Mr Williamson and Mr Bayo allegedly
agreed a £38,000 commission payment from the Royal Mint, which they shared
between them.
Roger Holmes, then the Royal Mint chief executive, and his successor, Gerald
Sheehan, told the court that they had no knowledge of any commission
payments and would not have approved of the transactions.
Mr Williamson, from Tooting, southwest London, was a regional sales manager
with an unblemished 26-year career at the Royal Mint and has since retired.
Yesterday he denied conspiracy to defraud between February 1996 and February
2001, at Southwark Crown Court in London.
Douglas Day, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Williamson was a highly
regarded manager with responsibility for West Africa. He said: “To a large
degree he was able to work without supervision. He took great care of his
customers and assiduously guarded his relationship with them.”
In 1996 Mr Bayo, then manager of the Central Bank of The Gambia, negotiated
a contract with the Royal Mint for millions of bututs, the currency of the
country. During the deal he demanded commission, saying that if it were not
paid he would go to a competitor, the court was told.
Mr Bayo then allegedly took a total of £37,720 of the new money as it rolled
off the production line. Mr Day said: “The defendant received no less than
£18,250. This was made up of payments from Mr Bayo of £14,650, plus an
additional sum of £3,600 withdrawn from ATMs.
“Management at the Royal Mint believed all the payments were being received
by Mr Bayo and were not aware of any of them being directed for the benefit
of the defendant.”
Mr Day added: “The Crown contends that the conspiracy comprised a dishonest
agreement between the defendant and Mr Bayo to share commission payments
which were made.”
He said that Mr Williamson had even used Mr Bayo’s bank card to withdraw
some of the cash. Mr Bayo is still in The Gambia but faces extradition to
Britain.
The trial continues.
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