Company head jailed

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 19

Company head jailed

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“The investing public is entitled to expect absolute honesty from those to whom they entrust their money and the confidence of the whole financial market place depends on that expectation being fulfilled,” Mr Justice Hardie Boys said.

When there was a departure from that standard, this amounted to a criminal offence. The public was entitled to have the offender dealt with as any other offender against the criminal law. There should be no double standard. If anything, much more should be expected from a company director than say an unemployed semiilliterate.

Partly for that reason and partly because of the current level of concern at commercial morality and so-called white-collar crime, there was a need to make an example by way of deterrence to others whose offending was serious.

Burbery fell into that category. Burbery did not need a sentence of imprisonment to bring those truths home to him, but he saw it as a necessary statement on behalf of the community as to the importance of

maintaining business integrity. He had concluded that there was no alternative to imprisonment. “For anyone in your position, the sentence itself will be so calamitous that the length is almost irrelevant. The Criminal Justice Act directs me to keep the sentence as short as possible.' “I must have regard to the situation in which you and your family are now in. It is, I know, quite disastrous. You have lost everything,” said his Honour.

Also his frank admission from the outset, his pleas of guilty and the time it had taken to dispose of the matter would be taken into account.

Above all he was entitled to take into consideration Barbery's contribution to the community over the years, said Mr Justice Hardie Boys. For Burbery, Mr Hampton said that it appeared that all secured creditors would be paid in full, but that there would be a shortfall for unsecured creditors.

There was no certainty as to what their loss would be.

Burbery had said that the receivers’ predictions were too gloomy. He denied that there was any dubious lending after he

signed the cheques and normal business practice was followed.

Burbery had not been motivated by greed or personal gain. His sole purpose was to save the company. Given time, Burbery believed that it would be possible that all creditors would be paid in full, Mr Hampton said.