A former top boss at Forest firm Mabey & Johnson is facing up to seven years in jail after being found guilty of breaking UN sanctions in Iraq.

Millionaire businessman David Mabey, 49, turned a blind eye to a £300,000 'kickback' to Saddam Hussein's regime while sales director at the Lydney bridge building company.

He agreed the payment to secure a lucrative contract in Iraq for the family's global bridge-building empire which has helped him feature in the Sunday Times rich list.

But the 'shady deal' for bridges, made in Lydney breached the UN's 'Oil for Food' programme, designed to stop the Baghdad dictator from importing military goods.

Also found guilty was managing director Richard Charles Forsyth, 62, who secretly rubber stamped a deal set up by Richard Gledhill, 64, the company's Middle East representative.

Gledhill admitted his part in the scam and gave crucial evidence that helped secure the conviction of his former employers.

The bosses were put on trial 18 months after Mabey & Johnson Ltd, was fined £3.5 million after admitting breaching UN sanctions in Iraq and paying bribes in Ghana and Jamaica. Investigations showed further kickbacks in Madagascar, Angola, Mozambique and Bangladesh.

Mabey and Forsyth, who were both given bail, now face up to seven years prison when they return to Southwark Crown Court on February 23.

Mabey's wife began screaming and shouted: 'You've got it wrong' as the jury convicted her husband by a majority of 10 to two and his lawyers say he will appeal. Forsyth was convicted unanimously.

The court heard that they tried to hoodwink UN officials by inflating the price of the bridge contract and claimed illegal payments were 'commission' to agents.

The company lied about the deal by claiming it was to be paid 4.2 million Euros instead of 3.8 million Euros but the 10 per cent 'commission payment' went straight to Saddam Hussein's government.

French national Gledhill, 64, the firm's sales manager in the Middle East, told the court that he negotiated the deal, but that Mabey and Forsyth knew what was going on.

A spokesman said the £3.5 million find had been "painful" but the company has since restructured and still has 195 employees.

He said: "As a company, we have already dealt with the issues in this trial, notably by pleading guilty to wrong-doing in a separate trial in 2009 and by paying a substantial financial penalty.

"We took responsibility for these issues, co-operated fully with the authorities and completed a profound renewal of our company and its ethical procedures and processes." Lydney is one of three manufacturing plants at the firm relaunched as Mabey Bridge Ltd in May 2010.

Since 2008 seven out of 10 directors have left the board and David Mabey remains a minority shareholder.