Wembley chief fights bribe charges

THE boss of casinos and dog track group Wembley has been indicted on a $4.5m (£2.8m) bribery charge in the US state of Rhode Island.

Chief executive Nigel Potter is stepping down from his role to fight the charges, issued yesterday following a 12-month investigation by a Federal Grand Jury.

Dan Bucci, who runs the company's Lincoln Park US gambling operation, has also been charged.

The 22-count indictment alleges a conspiracy to pay a US law firm, McKinnon &a Harwood, up to $4.5m over six years to 'improperly influence' local politicians and officials.

It claims the bribes were aimed at winning approval for 1,000 more video lottery machines; obtaining authorisation of coin-based rather than redeemable paper chit-based machines; and blocking legislation that would allow the development of a rival gambling casino in Rhode Island by the Narragansett Indian tribe.

In a statement, Wembley dismissed the charges as 'without foundation' but that did not stop a 14% plummet in the share price, leaving it 95p lower at 567 1/2p.

Chairman Claes Hultman, who will run the company while Potter plans his defence, said: 'The board of Wembley believes that no US laws were broken, nor was there any intention to break any US laws. No payment was approved and no payment was ever made.'

Potter and Bucci, who also strongly denies the charges, have been arraigned to appear before a US district court judge on 19 September.