Fraudster sold MOD £800,000 of useless equipment

A COMPANY boss cheated the Ministry of Defence out of more than £800,000 by selling fake equipment including underwater scanners, a court has heard.

Carl Tiltman, 56, admitted conning the MOD into buying equipment he knew was useless in a fraud carried out in Portland, Dorset. He had been chief executive of Subsea Asset Location Technologies since 2012. The company was set up in 2009 to provide underwater scanning technology and consultancy services to the MOD, but Tiltman, who had worked as a sonar engineer for a government laboratory, lied to an official when promoting his firm’s services and equipment.

He used bogus results to convince the Government to invest in scanning equipment and gave false information to the MOD for products not fit for purpose and for some that did not even exist. The value of the fraud was said to be in excess of £800,000. Tiltman, of Hawkchurch, Devon, faced a series of fraud charges. One alleged that he recommended the MOD buy precision scanning equipment for £262,920, knowing, following a trial of an earlier version of the product, that it would not be fit for its intended purpose. He was further accused of sending out invoices totalling £470,000 for work he knew could not be done, plus £3,600 for spares that were never needed. He was also charged with acting against the financial interests of his company’s investors.

According to its website, still online, the company he led was “formed to exploit a new passive sonar reflector technology for the commercial marketplace”.

He once advised the MOD that it had to charter a vessel for 41 days to undertake trials of specialist equipment, knowing that this would not support the project for which it was intended and intending to cause loss.

In another instance, it was claimed he provided “supporting evidence” in a presentation to MOD officials, which was “subsequently found to be false”.

Southwark Crown Court was told that the fraud fell into two categories: Tiltman’s abuse of his position, and making false representations about the technology. Tiltman admitted fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false representation and was bailed ahead of sentencing on Jan 10. The charges against him stretched from November 2016 to May this year.

An MOD spokesman said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards fraud and investigate all allegations.”