Ex-UK water boss charged in plot to 'manipulate' test results

LONDON (AFP) — The former boss of a British water company has been charged with conspiring to “manipulate” water quality tests and risks up to 10 years in prison, the government said Wednesday.

The case concerns the former head of Southern Water, which provides water and sewage services to millions across southern England and has been under fire over pollution.

The Environment Agency public body announced the charge on Wednesday after bringing the case against the company’s former CEO, Matthew Wright.

The country’s water firms have drawn public ire for years due to the discharge of large amounts of sewage into rivers and the sea.

In response, the government has begun to overhaul the water regulation system, including tightening sanctions against sector executives.

Wright and three others have been charged over measures to “manipulate” compulsory tests of water quality over five years in a conspiracy to defraud the Environment Agency and regulator Ofwat.

The charges relate to incidents between 2012 and 2017.

The accusations were made public Wednesday after the men lost a High Court legal bid to block the charges, in what the Environment Agency hailed as a “significant judgment.”

In the written ruling, Judge Andrew Popplewell said the allegations involved “carefully planned and extensive fraud and dishonesty at a high level.”

Wright faced “very serious allegations of criminal misconduct,” he said.

It is an offense if a water company deliberately manipulates flows of wastewater when a team comes to take samples to test the quality.

The Environment Agency alleges that former company employees deliberately ensured there was no flow when it was believed the site might fail a test, the judgement said.

Southern Water faces separate charges of breaching environmental permits over the same allegations.

In November the company apologized after plastic pellets washed up en masse on beaches in southern England, saying it was “highly likely” it was behind the polluting incident.

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By Agence France-Presse