Former Southern Water employees face charges over alleged wastewater testing fraud
Four ex-employees of Southern Water, including former chief executive Matthew Wright, face charges of conspiracy to defraud following an Environment Agency investigation.
The Administrative Court has handed down a judgment, confirming the Environment Agency (EA) has powers to prosecute former employees of the water company.
It is alleged that between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2017, the four individuals conspired to defraud the Environment Agency and Ofwat by implementing ‘artificial no-flow events’ at wastewater treatment works, operated by Southern Water.
The alleged actions were intended to ‘manipulate the Operator Self-Monitoring (OSM) compliance testing regime’.
An EA statement read: “Conspiracy to defraud is a common law offence carrying a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment. The case will now proceed before the Medway Magistrates Court.”
OSM was introduced for the water industry in 2009, and requires water companies to take samples at their wastewater treatment works. Results must then be reported to the Environment Agency.
Strict rules govern how samples must be taken to ensure their independence and accuracy. It is an offence if there is evidence that flows or data are deliberately manipulated to avoid compliance checks.
The EA said Southern Water will ‘separately face charges of breaching environmental permits linked to the same conduct’. Three further individuals will ‘also face charges linked to failure to comply with environmental permits’.
A spokesperson for the government agency said: “We can confirm that we are taking criminal proceedings against Southern Water Services Limited and a number of former employees.
“We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously and will always pursue and prosecute those alleged to have committed serious offending against the environment. We welcome this important judgment.”
In response, Southern Water said it was ‘aware of today’s judgement permitting prosecution’ by the Environment Agency of former employees.
Its statement read: “The individuals named are no longer with the company. The charges relate to a historic set of failures between 2012 and 2017. These were uncovered through an internal company investigation in 2017. As soon as they were identified, Southern Water reported them to regulators, including the Environment Agency.
“As previously announced, the company is separately facing charges of breaching environmental permits. This follows an earlier Ofwat investigation into the same issue, which resulted in a customer rebate and penalties being imposed in 2019. We apologised in full at that time and repeat that apology again today.
“Southern Water is a completely different company now than it was a decade ago. Under new leadership and backed by new shareholders, we’ve radically addressed our culture, governance and operations. We’re serious about further change and improvement, and are investing in our largest ever programme to protect the environment.”