Ernest Saunders
| Ernest Saunders | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ernest Walter Schleyer 21 October 1935 Austria |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Business manager |
| Known for | One of the "Guinness Four" |
| Criminal charge | Conspiracy to contravene section 13(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958, false accounting and theft |
| Criminal penalty | Five years' imprisonment |
| Criminal status | Released after 10 months |
| Spouse(s) | Carole Ann Stephing |
| Children | Two sons and one daughter |
Ernest Walter Saunders (born 21 October 1935) is a British former business manager, best known as one of the "Guinness Four", a group of businessmen who attempted fraudulently to manipulate the share price of the Guinness company. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but released after 10 months as he was believed to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which is incurable. He subsequently made a full recovery.
He was born Ernest Walter Schleyer in Austria and moved to the United Kingdom in 1938 when his parents emigrated to escape Nazi rule. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He married Carole Ann Stephing in 1963, and has two sons and one daughter.
He had a career in management with Beecham, Great Universal Stores and Nestlé before becoming chief executive of Guinness plc (now a part of Diageo plc) in 1981, remaining in the position until 1986. He was renowned for his ruthless cost-cutting efficiency, earning from his employees the sobriquet 'Deadly Ernest'.
Under his charge, early in 1986, Guinness plc launched a friendly takeover bid for Edinburgh-based United Distillers plc, which was being stalked by a hostile bidder. This was effected by quietly boosting the Guinness share price. Subsequent to the bid, which resulted in success for Guinness, Saunders was charged (along with Jack Lyons, Anthony Parnes and Gerald Ronson) and convicted on 27 August 1990 of counts of conspiracy to contravene section 13(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958, false accounting and theft, in relation to dishonest conduct in a share support operation (see Guinness share-trading fraud). A series of appeals was finally dismissed in December 2002, although a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in Saunders v. the United Kingdom declared that the defendants were denied a fair trial by being compelled to provide potentially self-incriminatory information to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) inspectors which was then used as primary evidence against them. This breached their right to silence.
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