Dunstone employed the controversial ex-convict Ernest Saunders as a business consultant for Carphone Warehouse prior to its flotation.
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.
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He had passed $100 million to the American Ivan Boesky to invest shortly before Boesky's prosecution and imprisonment for insider trading, and following that investigation Saunders' plans were revealed to the DTI in Britain.
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Subsequent to the bid, which resulted in success for Guinness, Saunders was charged (along with Jack Lyons, Anthony Parnes and Gerald Ronson) was charged 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).
Ernest Hemingway | Ernest Shackleton | Ernest Borgnine | Ernest Tubb | Ernest Rutherford | Ernest Renan | Ron Saunders | Jennifer Saunders | Ernest Chausson | Saunders-Roe | Ernest Bloch | Ernest Bevin | Ernest | Ernest George | Ernest Gruening | Ernest Dowson | Ernest Bai Koroma | Ernest Thompson Seton | Ernest Hollings | William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar | Richard Saunders | John Ernest | Fernando Saunders | Ernest Thayer | Ernest Jones | Ernest Giles | Ernest Gellner | Ernest Fenollosa | Ernest Augustus I of Hanover | Ernest Augustus I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
During his time at The Independent he was responsible for breaking most of the stories on the notorious Guinness Affair which led to several leading businessmen—including Gerald Ronson and Ernest Saunders—being sent to prison.