Ex-Southern Water boss among four charged over alleged plan to manipulate water tests

Matthew Wright is accused alongside three others of conspiring to defraud

The former chief executive of Southern Water has been charged alongside three others over an alleged plan to manipulate water quality tests to avoid paying financial penalties in the region of £45m, it can now be reported.

Matthew Wright is accused of conspiring to defraud the Environment Agency (EA) and water regulator Ofwat between 2012 and 2017 along with Philip Barker, Clive Massey and Mark Gregory, who also worked at the company.

The EA previously asked a judge to issue a summons against Wright and the others charging them with the offence.

Wright's solicitor said his client "denies all wrongdoing and has co-operated fully with the Environment Agency's investigation".

The summons was issued last year but Wright launched a legal challenge which was dismissed by two senior judges on Wednesday.

Wright's lawyers told the High Court in June that the EA did not have the power to issue the summons and it should be thrown out.

But the judges dismissed his claim and ruled restrictions previously preventing reporting of the legal challenge should be lifted.

Separate court listings showed the case against 60-year-old Wright, of Haslemere, Surrey, Barker, 57, of West Chiltington, West Sussex, 64-year-old Massey, of Brandhill, Shropshire, and 63-year-old Gregory, of Southampton, were scheduled to be heard at Medway Magistrates' Court on 14 July.

The four are accused of conspiring between 2012 and 2017 to defraud those conducting the environmental and financial regulation duties of Southern Water, including the EA and Ofwat, by "the implementation of artificial no-flow events at wastewater treatment works".

The court listings show Southern Water has separately been charged with dozens of offences of failing to comply with or contravening an environmental permit condition between 2013 and 2017 at multiple wastewater treatment works.

The former employees are accused of conspiring to defraud the Environment Agency and Ofwat

Wastewater treatment works can only be run with an environmental permit issued by the EA.

Treated effluent discharge from the works is tested under an "operator self-monitoring" (OSM) scheme, introduced in 2009, with discharges tested annually in unannounced visits.

The tests are carried out by sampling teams, which operate separately from teams that run the works.

If the discharge flow at the time of the test is insufficient to take a sample, it is not regarded as a fail, and no samples are taken for the rest of the testing period.

Rules around OSM have bee