The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged three former executives at security company G4S with defrauding the government.

The three men were charged with seven offences of fraud in connection to false representations made to the Ministry of Justice between 2009 and 2012, the SFO said on Tuesday.

The men charged were all directors of G4S’s care and justice services division, which ran an electronic monitoring contract with the Ministry of Justice for tagging and tracking offenders. They were: Richard Morris, former managing director of the unit; Mark Preston, former commercial director of the electronic monitoring business; and James Jardine, former finance manager and acting commercial director of the electronic monitoring business.

The men appeared for their first hearing at Westminster magistrates court in London on Tuesday. They are due to appear at Southwark crown court on 6 October.

Ross Dixon, a partner at Hickman & Rose solicitors acting on behalf of Richard Morris, said: “Mr Morris refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms. He will robustly contest the charges and is confident he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.”

G4S in July reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the SFO.

The DPA only relates to the potential criminal liability of G4S Care & Justice Services (UK) Ltd and does not address whether liability of any sort attaches to any employee, agent, former employee or former agent of G4S Care & Justice Services (UK) Ltd.

G4S is one of the largest UK-headquartered private sector employers, with security operations across the world. The company said its revenues of £3.5bn in the first half of 2020 were resilient despite the coronavirus pandemic, although they fell by 7% compared with 2019.

G4S said in July it would cut 1,000 jobs in its UK cash handling business as it seeks to focus on security services.

A spokesperson said it was not appropriate for it to comment on the individual cases.

The legal firm representing Preston declined to comment. The firm representing Jardine was contacted for comment.