'Cash for documents' claim in failed QS tube fraud case

Two QSs at the centre of the Jubilee Line fraud case were accused of bribing London Underground staff to obtain confidential contract documents, it emerged this week.

Key facts surrounding the collapsed £25m Jubilee Line case, which centred on QSs working on claims on M&E packages, have come to light in a new report. The 250-page document released on Tuesday lays out the background to the case and the reasons for its failure.

The report reveals the case against six defendants, which was terminated in March 2005 leading to the acquittal of all six, was based on the claim that the two main defendants offered cash to London Underground Limited (LUL) staff to obtain confidential documents. The two were QSs Stephen Rayment and Mark Woodward-Smith, who ran claims consultancy RWS Project Services.

They were accused of obtaining information from LUL staff and using it for the advantage of contractor clients. RWS was said to have first used the information on behalf of client contractor Drake & Skull for the original tendering process and later on behalf of contractors Mowlem Civil Engineering and Westinghouse Signals, for variation claims. None of the contractors were accused of being involved.

The report reveals that British Transport Police decided that their investigation would "establish that wrongful possession by the defendants of the claims assessments created a risk that the economic interests of LUL would be damaged".

The case against the six defendants was based on the claim that the two main defendants offered cash to London Underground staff to obtain confidential documents

The document, written by the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, claims the failure of the trial was down to: the prosecution's decision to include a count of conspiracy to defraud against four of the defendants; the slow and disjointed nature of the court proceedings; and the illness of defendant Mark Skinner, partner at George Skinner and Associates. Skinner was charged with conspiracy to defraud but denied this throughout the trial.

The report also reveals that the case first came about due to a complaint lodged by former RWS employee Peter Elliott-Hughes, who now runs listed claims firm NBA Quantum. Elliott-Hughes claimed RWS was in possession of internal financial and contractual documents that included financial provision for claims against them by contractors. He claimed these were provided by LUL staff in exchange for envelopes of cash. This was denied by the defendants.

Elliott-Hughes claimed RWS had the advantage of knowing which claims by the contractors had been accepted in principle by LUL and would therefore be successful. Elliott-Hughes claimed Woodward-Smith told him in a converastion "£60,000 buys us a lot of information". This was challenged by Woodward-Smith.

The defences of the two main defendants were revealed. Rayment denied any involved in a conspiracy, and challenged the prosecution's assertion that the tendering process was capable of being manipulated and that any confidential tender information had been passed to or received by him. Woodward-Smith denied involvement in the conspiracy and challenged the assertion that the only possible motive for having the documents was to assist with claims. Both claimed that RWS' possession of the LUL documents was "neither dishonest nor improper".