Subscribe to this blog's feedShould Severn Trent’s erstwhile chairman Sir David Arculus be renamed the Teflon knight? Disconnector muses thus in the wake of the whopping fine imposed by the water regulator for the company’s former misdeeds. These involved falsifying information sent to Ofwat and providing misleading information about leakage rates. This led to a Serious Fraud Office investigation and a guilty plea in court earlier this month.
Ofwat, it should be recalled, complained that it had “serious concerns about the culture and systems of planning and control within Severn Trent”. The regulator was clearly unhappy that “in our view it led to data being submitted that was not accurate or well supported and that was influenced by a desire to present a particular position or achieve a particular outcome. We consider that Severn Trent Water’s approach fell significantly below the standard we expect”.
Now, the man in one of the hot seats at the water company then was former chairman Sir David Arculus, who was also at the time a New Labour favourite. Indeed, he was the man picked to chair the administration’s Better Regulation
Task Force.
Later, of course, Sir David went on to chair the Conservative Party’s commission on regulatory matters. And to be a big cheese in the CBI.
Not bad, eh?
Clearly, falling on your metaphorical sword when your company misbehaves is no longer the honourable thing to do.
