Acquitted Regan faces £10m battle
IT could easily have been mistaken for a last supper. Millionaire businessman Andrew Regan and a group of eight friends were enjoying a meal at an Italian restaurant in Belgravia, central London.
Regan, who lives in Monaco with his ex-model wife Nikki and six children, was weeks away from a trial in Britain accused of stealing £2.4m. It was the third time he had faced the court and the Serious Fraud Office was confident of a conviction.
No wonder he looked gloomy that night at the trattoria two months ago. But last week the gloom lifted. As he walked free from court, Regan looked like a man who had just shed a huge weight from his shoulders.
The celebrations, though, could be shortlived. Regan now faces a £10m civil action brought by the Co-operative Group, which he tried and failed to take over in an audacious £1.2 billion bid in 1997.
The failed court case and the civil action relate to a supply contract extension signed in 1995 between Hobson, a food company then owned by Regan, and the Co-op.
Regan was accused of stealing £2.4m from Hobson with which businessman Ronald Zimet bribed former Co-op executives Allan Green and David Chambers to secure the contract.
Last year, Green and Chambers were found guilty of corruptly accepting £1m each and both were jailed for three and a half years. Regan was involved in that trial but the jury failed to reach a verdict in his case.
A retrial was held in January this year only for it to be halted after allegations of jury nobbling. This resulted in a second trial, which ended last week.
Regan's legal team blamed the bribery on Zimet, who had been controversially granted immunity from prosecution by the SFO in return for giving evidence against Regan.
As part of its investigations, the SFO found the £2m bribes in bank accounts in Monaco and confiscated the money.
The Co-op will this week seek to win back what it believes it lost on the difference between a market rate for the food supply agreement and what Hobson actually paid. The Co-op is also seeking damages from Green and Chambers.
Though it kick-started its case the Co-op may have to wait up to 18 months before it gets its day in court, but it is prepared to be patient.
For Regan, who has endured six years of investigations, trials and uncertainties, the continuing action will be unwelcome.
While it will not prevent him from re-emerging in the City, he may prefer the low profile and mainly private deals he has been conducting in recent years and which are thought to have added to his wealth.
At the end of the Italian meal Regan picked up the tab. The Co-op is determined that he will have to do the same again.
