{"id":538235,"date":"2026-02-16T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=538235"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:29:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:29:46","slug":"former-carillion-boss-withdraws-challenge-to-fca-sanction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contractors\/carillion\/former-carillion-boss-withdraws-challenge-to-fca-sanction-16-02-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Carillion boss withdraws challenge to FCA sanction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Carillion chief executive Richard Howson has withdrawn his court challenge to the punishment handed to him by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over breaches of financial rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howson\u2019s case challenging the FCA\u2019s findings, which were behind a provisional fine of almost \u00a3400,000, was originally listed to be heard today in the Upper Tribunal Tax and Chancery Chamber in London.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the court confirmed to <\/span>Construction News<\/span><\/i> this morning that Howson (pictured) withdrew his case last week and the hearing will not now go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, the<\/span> FCA reduced the fines originally handed out to two of Howson\u2019s former colleagues<\/span><\/a> \u2013 finance directors Richard Adam and Zafar Khan \u2013 after they withdrew their own separate challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howson served as Carillion\u2019s group chief executive from 1 January 2012 to 10 July 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2022, the FCA announced a<\/span> provisional fine of \u00a3397,800 for Howson<\/span><\/a> after finding he was knowingly concerned in regulatory breaches before the contractor\u2019s collapse in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

The breaches occurred between July 2016 and July 2017, and related to misleading market announcements, aggressive contract accounting and failures in systems and controls.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FCA said Carillion published trading updates and results statements in December 2016, March 2017 and May 2017 that described the company\u2019s performance as \u201cmeeting expectations\u201d, despite internal reports showing significant losses and growing financial risks on major UK projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

These included Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Midland Metropolitan Hospital, Battersea Power Station and the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.<\/span><\/p>\n

The regulator said Howson knew losses and risk exposures were running into hundreds of millions of pounds but approved positive public statements and failed to ensure the board and audit committee were properly informed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carillion collapsed in January 2018, prompting reforms to audit, governance and public procurement oversight.<\/span><\/p>\n

CN<\/span><\/i> has contacted the FCA for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Carillion chief executive Richard Howson has withdrawn his court challenge to the punishment handed to him by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over breaches of financial rules. Howson\u2019s case challenging the FCA\u2019s findings, which were behind a provisional fine of almost \u00a3400,000, was originally listed to be heard today in the Upper Tribunal Tax …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129711,"featured_media":372830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[531,552,578],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carillion","category-financial","category-legal"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Carillion boss withdraws challenge to FCA sanction | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Carillion chief executive Richard Howson has withdrawn his court challenge to the punishment handed to him by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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