With regard to Operation Branchform and why it is taking so long.
I refer you to the case of the Directors of Irvine based Oricom Telecom as well as certain NHS Managers and the alleged embezzlement of £7m from NHS Scotland.
04/12/2015: NHS Fraud Officers raid HQ of telecom firm Oricom.
27/11/2021: Eight people charged after probe into NHS contracts.
27/09/2023: Five men to stand trial on bribery charges over NHS contracts.
Interestingly, the trial date reported in that last story headline was January 2024. To my knowledge, the trial has yet to take place.
In conclusion, after nearly 9 years from the initial raid by fraud officers, the accused have yet to be brought to justice and when they are, the trial is expected to last 16 weeks.
Of course, a completely different case, but an interesting comparator nonetheless.
One final footnote, neither the Herald or the National have covered this story. BBC News, STV News, the Daily Record and the Mirror did.
And an excellent Saturday morning piece of satirical art Chris.
