UK govt. under fire for fraud arrests

Police officers arrested two men and two women who were the former staff of Harrison’s employment agency A4e, which holds the government welfare-to-work contracts and receives tens of millions of pounds each year.

The arrests came after Thames Valley officers visited the company to ask for documents and computer files dating back to 2010.

The investigation will focus on the allegations that the company, which is funded by the government to help the long-term unemployed find jobs, received taxpayer money even if they placed people in jobs only for a few days.

Moreover, a whistleblower also revealed that the company’s staff were forced to say they had found jobs for unemployed people. And that the staff received £50 bonuses for each person they placed in work, while the company received about £2,000, Daily Mail reported.

Harrison, the company chairman, who was appointed by David Cameron last year has reportedly received a dividend of over £8 million after the company’s turnover reached £234 million.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, condemned the company fraud records as “abysmal,” stressing the coalition government should suspend its Work Programme contracts with the company until the investigation is completed.

SAB/HE

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