An 11-week trial at Southampton Crown Court into alleged ‘backhanders’ being paid by pharmaceutical companies to two Isle of Wight men over the course of seven years began last week.
Paul Jerram from Shanklin has been charged with six counts of bribery and one count of corruption, whilst Dr David Turner from Ventnor has been charged with five counts of bribery.
Four in court
The two appeared in court on Thursday (27th Jan 2022) alongside co-defendants, NHS pharmacist Cathal Daly, and Seaview businessman Noel Staunton, who also faces a corruption bribery charge.
As reported by News OnTheWight in 2015, The Telegraph had launched an undercover investigation, exposing senior NHS staff being taken on expensive trips and paid thousands of pounds by pharmaceutical companies.
News OnTheWight reported in 2016 that Jerram had been dismissed by the IWCCG.
Accused of pocketing a whopping £68,760
At the time of the investigation Jerram was head of medicines management at the IWCCG. He and Turner, a GP and consultant to the IWCCG, had set up a limited company JTRx alongside their NHS work.
Jerram and Turner have been accused of pocketing a whopping £68,760 instead of paying the money to the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (IWCCG).
Noel Staunton’s business, 3i Consultancy, represented pharmaceutical companies. He’s facing a corruption charge relating to a payment of £2,000 and a bribery charge relating to paying a £4,200 fee.
Contract set up
Concerns were apparently raised about where the money was being paid, so Jerram and Turner drew up a contract stating that their company, which is based in St Lawrence, would act as a conduit for the payment of money to the IWCCG.
Something the CCG never saw.
A string of bribery charges
The pair allegedly received £48,000 from a pharmaceutical company to endorse their drugs at advisory boards.
It’s also alleged that the pair received over £5,000 to promote calcium tablets and that they promoted a number of drugs on behalf of Staunton’s clients on software called ScriptSwitch. This is used by GPs to compare medicines.
The trial will continue for 11 weeks, so it’ll be some time before we know the outcome.
Source: The Telegraph
