UK Finance chair Bob Wigley named in employment claim alleging fraud at company he chaired
UK Finance chair Bob Wigley has been named in an employment tribunal claim alleging fraud at a company he chaired.
The claim, seen by Morning Wire, relates to Northern Ireland tech firm Secure Broadcast.
Its former chief operating officer Richard Johnston is claiming constructive dismissal from the company after uncovering an alleged fraud.
According to the claim, the alleged fraud was discovered in late April by the company’s financial controller during negotiations with a Dublin finance company.
The claim alleges that contracts worth £18,000 for one year had been duplicated and changed to more than £600,000 over three years.
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One contract worth £24,000 for one year had allegedly been copied (including original signatures and dates) and changed to nearly £900,000 over three years.
In its defence, filed last week, the company said the documents were projections based on the estimated maturity value of the contracts and “wholly reject” the allegation they were fraudulent.
Its lawyers said the company was “robustly defending the proceedings” and “refutes all the allegations made” by Johnston.
Johnston and the financial controller both resigned from the company after the allegedly doctored contracts were discovered.
Johnston, who resigned on 7 May, said he reported the alleged fraud to both the company’s chief executive Helen Lennon and its chair, Wigley.
On 29 May, Johnston said he received a letter from the board saying that the allegations he made in his resignation letter were “factually incorrect”.
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He issued a constructive dismissal claim against the company on 13 June, also naming Lennon and Wigley as respondents.
Secure Broadcast said Lennon and Wigley should be removed as respondents to the case as it is “inappropriate they are listed in their personal capacity”.
It also said that Wigley is not listed as a director of Secure Broadcast on Companies House so should be removed from the claim.
Wigley previously described himself as chairman of the company on his Linkedin profile and in a video posted on Secure Broadcast’s Twitter account on 30 April.
City grandee Wigley has chaired industry lobby group UK Finance since 2017. He was EMEA chair of investment bank Merrill Lynch between 2003 and 2009 and a member of the court of the Bank of England between 2006 and 2009.