‘Living the Life of Riley’ on council bribes

A manager at a housing services company took his mother to tea at the Ritz as he lived the ‘life of Riley’ on corporate bribes, a court heard.

Andrew Langston, 42, had £16,000 worth of work done on his home for free while also taking £819,686 worth of kickbacks through a consultancy company, it is claimed.

His partner Lee Wylie, 48, was treated to a bespoke grandfather clock in the Hackney Council the sub contracting scam, it was said.

Wylie, a former divisional director at Lakehouse Contractors Ltd, was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 2019 after admitting bribery, the court heard.

He is said to have received bribes from a number of individuals to secure contracts from Hackney Council.

John Hardy, prosecuting, said: ‘This is a case concerning local authority corruption.

‘The process of outsourcing is fertile territory for corruption. That is exactly what has happened here.

‘Langston earned £40,000 per annum with an allowance. But it wasn’t enough.

‘Sub-contractors found themselves forced to pay bribes, the bribes are called “kick-backs” in the parlance.

‘It is a form of economic duress.’

Langston and Wylie set up consultancy company K and R to take bribes, it is claimed.

‘K and R were a sham company. What they actually did was nothing, the pretended to do was consultancy work,’ Mr Hardy said.

‘There were two directors, neither of them had any experience at all in carrying out inspecting work, and the firm employed no employees at all.

‘All they did was send out invoices to sub-contractors.

‘They were living what sometimes is known as the “Life of Riley” on the kick-backs paid by sub-contractors.

‘You would be anxious, wouldn’t you, if your assessment for fire risk had not been carried out by a trained professional.

‘Well, the ones carried out by K and R consultancy had not been carried out at all.’

The bribes were spent on a black BMW X5 car in 2012 and afternoon tea at the Ritz for Langston’s mother’s birthday, the court heard.

Langston also had a sub-contractor do £18,000 worth of work on his home in exchange for securing a contract, the court heard.

The pair also took £121,678 in July 2013 for fire inspections that were never done, jurors were told.

A whistleblower who reported fraud within Lakehouse in 2013 sparked an investigation by Hackney Homes, which provides social housing for the London borough, the court heard.

The wrongdoing was referred by the council to the Metropolitan Police in July 2014, the court heard.

Lakehouse had been sub-contracted by Hackney Homes to carry out a fire risk assessment on properties owned by the council, the court heard.

In turn they sub-contracted companies including Spicers Carpentry and MJM Ltd, the court heard.

The sub-contractors paid the pair a fixed fee per job, which could be as much as £100 for each installation of a fire alarm, jurors heard.

But senior management at Lakehouse became concerned about about how the fire risk assessment was carried out, the court heard.

The alleged wrongdoing was referred by the council to the Metropolitan Police in July 2014, the court heard.

Langston, of Alderton Hall Lane, Loughton, Essex denies bribery and two counts of theft.

Langston was found to be unfit to stand trial so the trial will determine whether he committed the offences but will not convict him.

The trial continues.
ends