Philippine court demands SRT Marine chief executive appears to face corruption charges

SRT Marine remains “fully supportive” of chief executive Simon Tucker after a court in the Philippines refused an application to throw out corruption charges.

The allegations relate to a £30m vessel monitoring system project awarded in 2018.

Simon Tucker, chief executive of SRT Marine

Tucker and two officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Eduardo Gongona and Demosthenes Escoto, face three charges of graft and corrupt practices.

Tucker has been ordered to appear in court and post bail before an arraignment and pre-trial hearing on 26 February. Gongona and Escoto each posted bail in January.

Bath-based SRT has consistently denied the allegations and believes the IMEMS contract “was won following an open and competitive tender, which has been successfully implemented and is operational”.

SRT’s share price fell 15% yesterday afternoon as the news emerged from the Philippines court, although this drop only reverses the gains seen over the last month.

In a statement, SRT said: “The Ombudsman has previously confirmed that both SRT and [CFO] Richard Hurd were cleared of any allegations.

“The Ombudsman had recommended further investigation into Simon Tucker and other individuals outside of SRT, and we are pleased to see this now moving forward through the Philippine legal process towards a clear resolution. The board remains fully supportive of Simon who continues with the process to clear his name.”