Sensational details emerged in the pounds 2.5 million fraud case this
week against Renny Platt, the former Saatchi and Saatchi joint head of
facilities, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to milk the car giant,
Jaguar, out of hundreds of thousands of pounds (Campaign, 10 November).
The trial, which opened at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court on 6
November, followed a Metropolitan Police probe in 1992 into the awarding
of contracts for reprinting and translating Jaguar handbooks and manuals
and the submission of faked invoices to the company. Platt has pleaded
guilty alongside the two former senior employees implicated at Jaguar
Cars.
The prosecuting counsel, David Bate, told the court this week: ‘Between
1987 and 1991 Jaguar Cars had a big problem, only it didn’t know it at
the time.
‘Two of its trusted senior employees were systematically defrauding
Jaguar on a large scale.’
Roger Fielding, 43, and Roger Parker, 61, were the two most senior
employees in Jaguar’s technical publications unit. They were responsible
for drawing up and approving contracts and payments for translating and
typesetting work.
They gave work to Platt to be carried out by his company, No. 32 Ltd, a
subsidiary of Facilities Group, which was then owned by Saatchis. He, in
turn, passed work on to Roger Kennedy, then the director of the
typesetting company, Nova Arts. Kennedy is accused of money laundering.
Platt would submit invoices with a massive overcharge to be approved by
Fielding or Parker, and Kennedy would supply false invoices to Platt. He
would pay them, but later be reimbursed by Kennedy, who gave him signed
blank cheques, Bate said.
‘Mr Platt would put it in his back pocket, bribe Fielding with it or put
it on the horses,’ Bate said. He said the scheme was ‘pretty enormous’,
explaining that he could not put a precise figure on it.
The hearing continues.
The Roger Kennedy referred to in this story should not be confused with
the head of typography at Saatchis, who has the same name.
