Who is Ashley Parker? The property director accused in £300k bribery case

A property director was accused in court of paying nearly £300,000 in bribes to his brother to secure housing contracts. Ashley Parker, 63, is said to have bribed his 64-year-old brother, Jugal Sharma, while serving as housing director at Brighton and Hove City Council between 2004 and 2014.

During this time, Parker was running Kem Property Services, which became one of the largest providers of private rented housing to the council. By 2014, the business was earning profits of up to £2.3million and had secured a £20million contract to supply 350 homes to the authority.

The court heard that Parker changed his name from Ashone Sharma to Ashley Parker in 2006, shortly after his brother joined the council as a senior executive and later head of housing.

The council remained unaware of their relationship until 2013, even though Jugal had repeatedly signed declarations stating no family members were linked to contracts.

Prosecutor Robert O’Sullivan described Jugal as ‘a long time trusted employee of the council’ who was ‘expected to act in good faith’. He told jurors that ‘Kem Ltd and Ashley Parker paid successive bribes to Jugal Sharma, with the intention that he would show favor to Kem Ltd and to keep him sweet.’

The court also heard that Jugal consistently signed false declarations to hide the conflict of interest. His 2008 will even listed his brother under the name Ashley Parker, contradicting his claims of not knowing about the name change. Prosecutors said Parker and Kem Ltd paid around £285,000 in bribes, which Jugal used to fund mortgages and properties in East Sussex and east London.

Jugal denied any ‘personal involvement’ in the council’s procurement process, though evidence linked him to a temporary accommodation contract in 2004 and named him as an officer on a contract committee.

The case against him has been dropped due to ill health, but Ashley Parker and Kem Ltd still face six bribery charges, which they deny, including three counts of corruption and two counts of bribery.

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