So there you have it Rupert Soames is CEO of SERCO but why is this important?
Its important because, yet again, there is a major conflict of interest here. Basically because his brother is Nicholas Soames former Conservative defence minister. Nicholas Soames is Chairman of Aegis Defence Services Ltd a provider of private security services in Iraq. As an MP Nicholas Soames consistently voted for the Iraq war and is currently still MP for Mid Sussex along with being chairman of Aegis Defence. Anyone think thats a conflict of interest?
SERCO provides the government with all manner of services covering, State security, Transport, Science, Prisons and justice, Defence, Aviation, Health, Education, Leisure, Information technology & Waste.
Quite why SERCO is still allowed to quote for goverment contracts is mystifying. Both SERCO and G4S were being investigated by the serious fraud squad for overcharging on an electronic tagging contract. SERCO agreed to pay pack 68 million although the charges were actually dropped?
SERCO agreed to pay back 68 million. They agreed to pay back 68 million .....Basically they admitted they had defrauded the government out of at least 68 million. You can bet if they agreed to pay back 68 million, they owed more. Also the charges were dropped as police found no evidence of wrong doing? So even though they admitted charging the Government for tagging thousands of criminals who were actually dead, imprisoned or non-existent. The charges were dropped and they are still providing services and quoting on contracts. WHY?
There are a couple of other things that came up while looking into this. One was a Nicholas Soames connection to Princess Dianna where he alledgedly phoned her and said "Drop the anti-landmines campaign, you never know when an accident is going to happen!" he has always denied making the call.
Prior to becoming CEO of SERCO Rupert Soames was CEO of Aggreko a position he stepped into after the previous CEO Philip Harrower died when his car collided with a train in the United States.
https://www.serco.com/investors/governance/directorprofiles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Soames
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Soames
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10555/nicholas_soames/mid_sussex/divisions?policy=1049
http://www.nicholassoames.org.uk/contact
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/19/offender-electronic-tagging-serco-repay-68m-overcharging
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ray-of-light-for-serco-as-investigation-is-dropped-9937321.html
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/04/serious-fraud-office-inquiry-g4s-serco-overcharging
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