Three directors of Compass Group, the FTSE 100 catering company, are to appear in court to answer fraud charges relating to how they dismissed an alleged whistleblower in 2013.
Mark White, the group’s general counsel, Jane Kingston, its human resources director, and John Bason, a non-executive director who heads its audit committee, were handed on Tuesday summonses to appear at Milton Keynes magistrates court next month.
The cases emerged after the Guardian revealed last month that Dave Forsey, chief executive of FTSE 100 retailer Sports Direct, faced criminal charges over the alleged failure to give employees adequate notice that they were to lose their jobs, after a subsidiary went into administration.
White and Kingston are accused of making false statements when dismissing Karim Pabani, a former finance director of a Compass subsidiary in Kazakhstan. Pabani claims he exposed fraud in the caterer’s businesses in the former Soviet state before being sacked two years ago. Bason, who is also finance director of Associated British Foods, is accused of conspiring with White and Kingston over the sacking.
Pabani, who has also launched an employment tribunal claim, which Compass is contesting, has brought the fraud case as a private prosecution.
Alison Geary, a white-collar crime specialist at City law firm WilmerHale, said: “Private prosecutions are becoming increasingly common. They are used by those seeking pursuing companies and individuals for alleged wrongdoing, particularly in fraud cases.”
She added that there was a far lower bar for an individual or company to pursue a private prosecution, as the cost for the Crown to bring a prosecution means it must be satisfied that it has “a realistic prospect of conviction” before proceeding.
“There are a number of general principles that a magistrate will need to consider before issuing a summons in a private prosecution,” she said, “but in general the magistrate ought to grant the summons unless there is a compelling reason not to do so.”
A spokesman for Compass said the allegations “will be vigorously defended” against. It refused to comment further.
