Four Convicted in £6m NHS Corruption Scandal

Four men have been convicted in a £6 million corruption and bribery case involving several NHS health boards in Scotland after a three-month trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Adam Sharoudi and Gavin Brown, who ran Oricom Ltd, illegally secured contracts for telecoms and video conferencing equipment between 2010 and 2017 by colluding with former NHS employees Alan Hush and Gavin Cox. Hush and Cox abused their positions as public servants to provide Oricom with commercially sensitive information and bypass proper tendering processes, in return receiving a combined total of over £88,000 in cash and gifts. The fraudulent contracts included one worth £3.1 million and resulted in Oricom acquiring more than £5.7 million in criminal proceeds from multiple NHS boards. All four men denied the charges, which included bribery, corruption, fraud, theft, and violations of the Proceeds of Crime Act, but were found guilty and face significant custodial sentences. The judge described corruption as a 'cancer in public and commercial life' and remanded the men in custody pending sentencing.