Former Southern Water boss charged with conspiracy to defraud
The former boss of Southern Water is among four of the water firm’s ex-employees set to face criminal proceedings for conspiracy to defraud.
The Environment Agency (EA) alleges that between January 2012 and December 2017 Matthew Wright helped manipulate the operator self-monitoring testing regime by implementing “artificial no-flow events” at wastewater treatment works. The government said the individuals allegedly falsified data to bypass compliance checks and defrauded the EA and Ofwat.
The operator self-monitoring system was introduced for the water industry in 2009 and requires water companies to take samples at their wastewater treatment works and report the results to the EA. It is an offence if there is evidence that flows or data are deliberately manipulated to avoid compliance checks. The charge the individuals face carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Wright, who led the water agency from 2011 to 2016, launched a legal challenge arguing the EA lacked the legal power to issue the summons, but on Wednesday, the Administrative Court dismissed his claims.
The court confirmed the EA’s authority to prosecute and cleared the way for the case to be heard at Medway Magistrates’ Court.
The two High Court judges also ruled that restrictions previously preventing reporting of the legal challenge should be lifted.
Court tears up anonymity order
It was noted in the 48-page judgment that Wright’s lawyer applied for an urgent stay of proceedings and an anonymity order to keep Wright’s identity out of the press. The justification for this urgency was a forthcoming Magistrates’ Court hearing scheduled for 17 November 2025, but that hearing was adjourned to 3 December.
However, Wright’s legal team at White & Case failed to inform the Administrative Court of this date change, leading the High Court judges to state that failing to update the court misled the court and judge, which constituted a “serious” breach of Wright’s “duty of candour”.
While the High Court placed the “primary blame” on Wright as the claimant, the court did note that the EA was also at fault.
However, the anonymity order was ultimately struck down because the court found that open justice firmly trumps privacy.
In a press statement, an EA spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously and will always pursue and prosecute those alleged to have committed serious offending against the environment. We welcome this important judgment.”
Southern Water will separately face charges of allegedly breaching environmental permits linked to the same conduct.