Taxi boss suspended after BBC report

Zigy Hussain once paid £10,000 to secure a contract

The managing director of a multi million pound UK taxi business has been suspended following a BBC investigation into how contracts were awarded corruptly.

Tony Reeve, managing director of Medigen, has been suspended after a report by The Money Programme on illegal taxis exposed how bribes were paid to secure lucrative Medigen contracts and how the contract tendering process was corrupted by Mr Reeve.

Tesco and Asda confirmed that they have been told by Medigen that the managing director has been suspended from his duties pending a full internal investigation by Medigen's management team.

The supermarkets have been told that Mr Reeve has been presented with a list of questions by Medigen relating to the allegations of corruption. He now has five days to give a satisfactory response.

Virtual monopoly

The supermarkets are carrying out their own investigations into the corruption allegations.

Tesco has confirmed it has suspended four Medigen contracts as a result of the BBC's investigation.

It started off at the beginning as £1,000 which didn't seem too bad to get some work but later on it went astronomical

Zigy Hussain, former partner of taxi firm

Medigen runs a network of freephone lines at every major supermarket chain in the country and has a virtual monopoly on these taxi freephone lines.

Acting as agents for all the supermarket chains, Medigen puts the freephone lines out to tender and invites local minicab firms to submit bids for the contracts.

Middleman

But a six-month investigation by The Money Programme found Mr Reeve was operating a scam behind Medigen's official tendering process.

Minicab firms which had submitted a legitimate tender bid for a Medigen contract were later told they could secure the contract if they paid a bribe.

If the minicab firm agreed to the corrupt deal, a meeting with Mr Reeve was arranged through a middleman, at which Mr Reeve would show the cab firm all the rival bids and invite them to submit a new tender form, offering £200 more than the highest bidder.

The firm paying the bribe would then win the contract.

'A bit dubious'

The Money Programme worked with two Medigen contractors-turned-whistleblowers who decided to expose Mr Reeve's corruption.

Zigy Hussain, a former partner at Metro Cars in Halifax, paid £6,000 in bribes to win four Medigen contracts at local Tesco and Asda stores.

Mr Hussain told the BBC: ¿At first I was a bit dubious thinking no, it can't happen. But I did go along with it, obviously wanting the contract, wanting more work.

"It started off at the beginning as £1,000 which didn't seem too bad to get some work but later on it went astronomical, through the roof.¿

Denial

Mr Hussain told the BBC he once handed over a bribe of £10,000 to secure one Medigen contract at a supermarket in Halifax.

Mr Reeve denies any corruption. He told the BBC he never leaves his office to meet clients like Mr Hussain.

However, the programme included secret filming of Mr Reeve meeting Mr Hussain at a hotel in Brentwood last March.