London, April 15 ( /Sputnik) A former manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (formerly Coca Cola Enterprises) and two individuals with whom he conspired were sentenced for corruption and bribery, the latter in the amount of 1.5 million pounds ($2 million), in the UK . According to the Metropolitan Police of London, the main defendant in the case, 56-year-old Noel Corry, previously worked as a senior engineer manager at Coca Cola Enterprises UK between 1997 and 2013, when he was dismissed. He was responsible for procuring electrical services for the company’s bottling plants in the UK. In January 2004, he began accepting bribes in lieu of payment, and football and concert tickets in exchange for awarding contracts to specific companies. Two other defendants, Gary Haines and Peter Kinsella, worked at companies that “won” bids through Corry’s assistance. Haines was the managing director at Tritec Systems Ltd and Electron Systems Ltd, while Kinsella was regional manager at Boulting Group Ltd. (now WABGS Ltd.). “Corry, Haines and Kinsella worked hard to present themselves as reputable, reliable and genuine businessmen but in fact they were the exact opposite. Each played a different part in the corruption and bribery that amounted to around £1.5 million in financial gain for Corry,” Head of Economic Crime department John Roch said in a statement. The three men were arrested between 2013 and 2015 and pleaded guilty in 2019. Corry and Haines were sentenced to 20 months in prison and Kinsella to 12. The convicted will also have to do 200 hours of unpaid work and pay 5,000 pounds in fines. The three companies linked with the case have to pay from 70,000 pounds to 500,000 pounds in fines, with an additional 10,000 pounds per company. /SPUTNIK GNK