A former director of West of Scotland Heavy Haulage was sentenced yesterday (18 June) to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to a fraud charge relating to turbine component transportations.
James Campbell, 51, of Bearsden, Glasgow, overcharged Siemens Gamesa by £110,000 for services between January and August 2017, according to Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
Airdrie Sheriff Court heard how he “falsified and inflated invoices” to the manufacturer for police escort contracts relating to three wind farms in Scotland and one in Wales.
Invoices from the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and South Wales Police were to be charged “at cost” under the contract terms, however Campbell “augmented the price of the police escorts to obtain additional funds from Siemens Gamesa”.
There were also instances when no police escorts accompanied vehicles carrying the wind farm components, but Siemens Gamesa was still charged for the costs, COPFS stated.
Concerns over the legitimacy of the invoices issued by West of Scotland Heavy Haulage were first raised by a member of staff at Siemens Gamesa in June 2017.
The matter was passed to Police Scotland who carried out a raid on Campbell’s business address and seized a haul of electronic devices.
A number of fraudulently inflated SPA invoices were also recovered as well as text messages which showed the accused communicating with a colleague in July 2017 about altering SPA invoices before sending them on to Siemens Gamesa.
Campbell will now also be the subject of confiscation action under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies fraudulently obtained.
Les Brown, Procurator Fiscal for South Strathclyde, said: “Fraud is not a victimless crime. This was a brazen example of an individual inflicting serious financial harm on an overseas company and its employees.
“James Campbell was involved in a fraudulent enterprise concerning a significant sum of money. We take such criminality very seriously and will not stop at prosecution and have commenced proceedings to recover the benefit he gained from his criminal activities.”