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Guilty verdict for medical procurement expert who received £1.7m in corrupt payments (3 August 2017)

Date: 03/08/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Guilty verdict for medical procurement expert who received £1.7m in corrupt payments

A jury at Southwark Crown Court in southeast London has convicted a man on corruption charges, who was an expert in the procurement of medical equipment and received £1.7 million in corrupt payments.

Wassim Tappuni had denied 13 counts of conspiracy to corrupt.

The court heard that he was engaged as an expert to represent the interests of The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme in the bidding process for numerous medical projects – and, as such, was required to review highly confidential documents.

Tappuni evaluated the technical aspects of bids submitted by companies bidding in processes between 2007 and 2011, the court was told. However, he provided a number of bidding companies with information on what The World Bank was looking for in the bids – as well as asking them to help discredit the bids of others and advising on how to edit their bids to assist them in winning.

In return, he would receive a pre-arranged percentage of the contract value should the bidding company with whom he had the corrupt arrangement be successful.

Between April 2008 to June 2013, Tappuni received 65 corrupt payments totalling just under £1.7m.

Money was received under false invoices – and much of it was paid into bank accounts in Switzerland. None of the payments was declared, so no tax was paid.

Prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Specialist Fraud Division, Elspeth Pringle, said:

“Tappuni was a man consumed by greed – he betrayed his obligations to the organisations who engaged him in relation to contracts worth some £43 million to receive some £1.7 million in corrupt payments.

“Tappuni denied the allegations, but the evidence put forward by the CPS meant he was convicted.

“This has been a long and complex investigation conducted by the City of London Police, who received considerable assistance and co-operation from the World Bank and investigators across Europe.”


Tappuni will be sentenced on 22 September 2017.

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