Fraud charges for ex-SSL executives

Six people have been charged with fraud in relation to the accounts of SSL International, the maker of Durex condoms.

The six include the company's former chief executive Iain Cater and former finance director Paul Sanders.

The charges relate to the accounts for the two years up to March 2000, which were restated by the company a year later.

The defendants have been released on bail and the case will be heard at a Crown Court.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said five of the six charged are former SSL executives, with the other being Colin Wilson, the former purchasing director of AAH Pharmaceuticals.

Neither SSL nor any of its current employees have been charged, the SFO said.

An investigation by SSL during 2001 discovered that sales had been overstated by £22m during a period of 25 months.

"Now that, so far as the company is concerned, this unfortunate matter is closed, we can look forward to focusing exclusively on building our business," SSL chairman Ian Martin said in a statement.