Lowther cleared of corruption charges

CUMBRIAN businessman Bill Lowther has been cleared of bribing a Vietnamese bank official.

Mr Lowther was accused of conspiring to corruptly pay for the son of Vietnam’s central bank governor to study at Durham University in a bid to land a lucrative contract.

Southwark Crown Court heard how Lowther personally chauffeured the prospective student to an interview for a place at Durham University, but he told jurors he was just being “helpful”.

After less than a day of deliberation, the jury cleared Lowther unanimously of conspiracy to corrupt.

At the time of his arrest two years ago he was deputy chairman of Wigton-based Innovia and a director at a bank note printing firm called Securency International which Innovia jointly owns with the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The prosecution was part of a wider investigation across three continents into multimillion pound bribes allegedly paid by Securency to land contracts.

Mr Lowther, who stepped down following his arrest, was awarded the OBE in 1991 for services to the packaging industry and has a high profile in the Cumbrian business community.

He has served as chairman of the Cumbria Strategic Partnership and also been a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of Cumbria.