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The former chief executive of UK water company Southern Water has been charged with conspiring to “manipulate” water quality tests, British authorities said on Wednesday.
Matthew Wright, who previously led the company supplying water and wastewater services to millions of people across southern England, is accused alongside three others of conspiring to defraud the Environment Agency and water regulator Ofwat between 2012 and 2017.
Prosecutors allege the defendants deliberately manipulated wastewater flows before mandatory water quality tests to influence the results.
The charges were made public on Wednesday after the High Court rejected the defendants’ bid to block the prosecution, in what the Environment Agency described as a “significant judgment.”
In the written ruling, Judge Andrew Popplewell said the allegations involved “carefully planned and extensive fraud and dishonesty at a high level”.
Wright faced “very serious allegations of criminal misconduct,” he said.
The Environment Agency alleges former company employees deliberately ensured there was no wastewater flow when they believed a site might fail a regulatory test, according to the High Court judgment.
Southern Water also faces separate charges of breaching environmental permits linked to the same allegations.
The case comes as the UK government tightens oversight of the water sector following years of public outrage over sewage pollution in rivers and coastal waters.