Two directors of an Ayrshire-based telecommunications firm, Oricom Ltd, have been convicted and jailed as part of a £6 million NHS corruption scandal that has come to light after a decade-long investigation, the Daily Record is reporting. Adam Sharoudi, 41, and Gavin Brown, 48, were found guilty alongside two NHS officials who accepted bribes and kickbacks in exchange for facilitating lucrative contracts awarded to Oricom.

The scandal centres around contracts for the supply and maintenance of telecoms and video conferencing equipment given by several NHS boards—including NHS Lothian, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and NHS Ayrshire and Arran—to Oricom. Prosecutors revealed that the tendering process was tainted by financial wrongdoing. Sharoudi and Brown were convicted of acquiring, using, and possessing £5,719,244 of “criminal property” linked to these contracts, which spanned from 2010 to 2017.

The two NHS officials involved were Alan Hush, 68, who had roles in telecommunications management at NHS Lothian and later as video conferencing manager for NHS Scotland, and Gavin Cox, 60, who held the post of head of IT and infrastructure at NHS Lanarkshire. Both men were found to have abused their public service positions to ensure contract awards that favoured Oricom, with one contract alone valued at £3.1 million. Cox received over £70,000 in cash bribes and deals, while Hush accepted £18,231.

All four men denied the charges during a three-month trial at the High Court in Glasgow but were found guilty on Tuesday. Hush was convicted of nine charges, Cox of two, Sharoudi of seven, and Brown of six. The charges included bribery, corruption, fraud, theft and offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Following the verdict, judge Lord Arthurson remanded the four men in custody, characterising the corruption as a “cancer in public and commercial life” and warning that they should expect “significant” jail terms when sentenced.

Insiders described Sharoudi and Brown’s behaviour during the investigation as “swaggering”, with a source close to the case telling the Daily Record that the pair believed themselves to be “untouchable” and were seen “smirking” even after their practices were exposed. The source added, “You could tell they thought they were definitely going to get away with it.”

Oricom, which reportedly started from a garden shed, grew rapidly on the back of these NHS contracts. The company denied wrongdoing throughout the process, with lawyers threatening defamation action against the Daily Record in 2017 when it first published allegations of bribery, asserting that “Oricom has acted professionally and legally in all its dealings with health boards” and expressing hope that inquiries would clear the company’s name.

Industry insiders noted the prominence Oricom gained through NHS contracts was disproportionate to its otherwise minimal business activity. “Without the NHS contracts they had no company anyway,” one source said. “It’s great that they have finally come to justice after everything that they have done.”

The Crown has also sought disqualification orders to prevent Sharoudi and Brown from serving as company directors in the future. Oricom remains an active company on Companies House, now operating under two directors not implicated in the case.

The convictions mark the culmination of a lengthy investigation by NHS counter fraud teams and law enforcement into the abuse of public office and public funds in the provision of health services across Scotland.

Source: Noah Wire Services