An engineer who accepted £15m in bribes while working on secondment from Laing for the government of Dubai has been jailed for nine months.
Stephen Trutch, 53, of Leeds, accepted illegal payments from contractors looking for work in the United Arab Emirates, Winchester Crown Court heard.

He was alleged to have bought property with this money, including three golf courses, in Yorkshire and America, and set up a Swiss bank account with the proceeds. His wife Jeanne opened three clothes shops.

Trutch, who earned £30,000 a year, was responsible for running the engineering department of a joint venture firm called Al Nabodah Laing, formed in 1977, where he worked under a horse-racing aficionado, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, for 12 years. A key part of his job was to award building contracts.

Trutch fled when his employers called in accountants to investigate suspected financial irregularities.

Sheikh Mohammed then won a civil action in the High Court and Trutch agreed to repay all the money he had taken.

But the court was told that Trutch had lied to the High Court and concealed assets, so his former employer went to the police.

Trutch admitted two counts of perjury and four counts of perverting the course of justice. Trutch's wife, Jeanne, was fined £2500 after she admitted perverting the course of justice and money laundering.