Former Thurrock Council leader Ann Geaney is sch

Former Thurrock Council leader Ann Geaney is scheduled to
continue her witness box defence at the Old Bailey tomorrow
(Friday) against corruption charges.

The trial had been adjourned for the past two days.

Geaney, 53, of Mill Road, Aveley, Essex, denies lying to
obtain a pds stlng 12,000 Abbey National mortgage and rewarding
her alleged accomplice insurance broker with a quarter share of a
pds stlng 14 million council mortgage privatisation scheme.

Geaney has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy
to obtain property by deception, and one each of corruption, and
conspiracy to contravene the Public Bodies Practice Act.

Broker Henry Freeman, 36, of Woodland Road, Loughton, Essex,
denies two charges of conspiracy to obtain property by deception,
and one each of forgery, using a false instrument, corruption,
and conspiracy to contravene the Public Bodies Practice Act.

The jury heard that Geaney’s son, Michael Geaney, 36, of
Cambridge Avenue, Gidea Park, Essex, has pleaded guilty to forgery
and a number of other charges relating to his ‘essential role’
in the matter.

He will be sentenced at the end of his mother’s trial.

ends.