Ex-Goldcrest director jailed over cover-up

Donald Anderson, former finance director of film and television company Goldcrest, was yesterday sentenced to two years' imprisonment for organising the cover-up of pounds 19m in bogus profits at the former Brent Walker subsidiary.

Anderson, who on Thursday was found guilty by a London court of perverting the course of justice, was also disqualified from acting as a company director for five years.

He was paid a total of pounds 700,000 to cover up "profits" recorded in the accounts of Brent Walker. This involved a complex route taking in the US, Switzerland and the Isle of Man. He collected the payments in bearer bonds and cash in Geneva, including sums laundered through the Bahamas and Lichtenstein.

In jailing Anderson, 43, of Richmond, Surrey, Judge Michael Harris said: "For what it is worth I thought the evidence against you was overwhelming. Your fingerprints were, in effect, all over the cover-up."

He continued: "I must send a message to the business world that the courts will punish businessmen who do not behave with honesty and integrity."