Helen Child is considering her future as CEO of
prepaid business G-T-P after admitting to perverting the
course of justice.
Child attracted national media attention
for trying to avoid speeding fines by blaming her dead mother.
She tried to fool police into thinking her mother Lucinda, who
died in 2002, had been driving a Volvo estate she
was caught speeding in on two occasions in February 2006 and June
2007.
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The car was still registered in her mother’s
name and Child forged the signature on penalty
documents sent out by the police, meaning the points went onto her
mother’s licence.
Asked specifically by Cards
International whether she would continue as CEO of G-T-P
following her conviction, Child replied she “was taking time
to reflect on these events” but said she had the backing of
the company’s board and shareholders. She added that the judge in
his summing up in the case at Manchester Crown Court, where she was
handed a 15 week suspended jail sentence and 80 hours of
community service, made specific reference that she remained a
fit person to run G-T-P.
As G-T-P holds an e-money licence, the FSA will have to consider
whether Child still qualifies as a “fit and proper person” to
continue in her role as a company director.
“This was a personal matter and
my behaviour, which was both
stupid and naive, should in no way reflect on G-T-P, which has
always acted in the most professional manner and with complete
integrity,” she said.
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By GlobalData“The company’s management and team
should not have to carry the burden of the impaired decision-making
I’ve demonstrated in my personal capacity.”
The media coverage comes at a bad time
for G-T-P, which is in talks with potential investors interested in
securing a stake in the company or merging it with another
business. Cards International understands the company has
been in talks with a number of interested parties over the last
nine months.
A G-T-P spokeswoman told CI that it is in advanced
talks with a “major payments” player about a merger and said the
business feared losing the deal as a result of bad publicity.
However, CI understands the situation could actually
accelerate the prospects of a deal.
The situation is also deeply embarrassing for the
high-flying G-T-P CEO, who is a leading figure in the prepaid
industry and sits on the board of the UK Gift Card Association.
Child is a co-founder of G-T-P, has 10 years of experience in
the cards industry and, according to her company’s website, was one
of the founding members of the Prepaid International Forum (PIF),
an industry trade body. A week ago she was named as one of the
top 10 women in the prepaid industry by US prepaid publication
PayBefore.
“I have always worked tiredlessly
for the prepaid industry and will continue to so,” Child
added.
Child previously appeared on the cover of Cards International
(see above) and was interviewed in CI 423, June
2009.
She was finally caught by police after blaming her
morther for a third offence in September
2009, after driving through a red light in her
Audi S5 V8 Quattro. Police documents sent out after the offence
were picked up by a neighbour, who informed police that Lucinda was
dead. The police then launched an investigation.
, Daily
Telegraph
