Former UK Coca-Cola boss caught taking R29m in bribes

A former Coca-Cola boss in the UK on Thursday avoided jail despite taking more than £1.5 million (R29 million) in bribes in return for channeling lucrative contracts to favoured companies.

Noel Corry, 56, provided companies with confidential information to give them an advantage over rivals when bidding for electrical services contracts for bottling plants in the UK.

In return, he received payments through "bogus" contracts for work at Coca-Cola Enterprises that was never carried out, or overpaying for work done and pocketing the difference, prosecutors said.

At London's Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, he was given a 20-month suspended sentence, while two directors of the other companies involved in the scheme, which ran between 2004 and 2013, were each given a 12-month suspended sentence.

"Corry had established a corrupt culture in the procurement exercise, awarding contracts to those companies whose senior managers were prepared to bribe him for doing so," said Alistair Dickson of the Crown Prosecution Service.

"Coca-Cola Enterprises were wholly unaware of Corry's corrupt actions to enrich himself."