MIDLANDS Co-op is in line for a £ 400,000-plus windfall after a judge ruled that a corrupt former Ilkeston Society executive and his accomplices, including his mother, wife and sister, must pay back tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.
The final cost of Martin Sale's deception against former employers Ilkeston Co-op, which merged with Midlands Society last November, was put at £ 1,089,698 by Judge John Burgess at Derby Crown Court.
But Sale, formerly Financial Director of Ilkeston Co-op Motor Group, who is serving a four-year and half year jail sentence for defrauding his employers, has been ordered to pay back just £ 198,477 of "realisable assets".
Judge Burgess ordered this sum to be paid to Midlands Co-op and ruled that if the money was not paid within 12 months, Sale could have his jail term increased by two-and-a-half years.
Sale's wife was also ordered to pay realisable assets of £ 149,584 within a year or face imprisonment for two years and three months, while similar orders were made against his sister and her partner.
Full story in the next edition of Co-op News available from Tuesday July 24th.
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