Britain gave greater than £28billion in taxpayer money to its enemies over six years, a leaked authorities file revealed final evening.
Terrorists such because the Islamic State in Syria group, hostile states together with Russia and legal gangs acquired the huge sum from overseas assist, Covid reduction loans and the advantages system, which an knowledgeable mentioned was an ‘ATM for terrorists’.
Cupboard Workplace safety officers commissioned the report in 2023 after it emerged that Covid mortgage schemes had been topic to widespread fraud.
Nevertheless it highlighted issues with authorities grants and due diligence processes extra broadly, and officers determined to not disclose it.
The report, which has been leaked to The Telegraph, revealed that Britain helped corporations linked to the Chinese language army pursue their very own analysis between 2015 and 2021.
A lot of the misappropriated funds went to legal gangs, together with human traffickers claiming housing advantages and incapacity allowances.
£28billion of UK taxpayer cash has gone to enemies of the nation. Huge sums have ended up within the palms of the Islamic State in Syria (IS fighters pitured) after it emerged Covid loans, overseas assist and advantages schemes had been subjecte to widespread fraud
Terrorists such because the Islamic State in Syria group, hostile states together with Russia and legal gangs acquired the huge sum from overseas assist , Covid reduction loans and the advantages system, which an knowledgeable mentioned was an ‘ATM for terrorists’
Tom Keatinge, of the Royal United Companies Institute think-tank, cited ‘numerous examples’ of Britain’s welfare system changing into an ‘ATM for terrorists’.
He additionally labelled the administration of the Covid mortgage scheme, which supplied loans of as much as £50,000 to small companies in the course of the pandemic, ‘fairly disastrous’.
He mentioned: ‘If there is a loophole, anybody can use that – criminals, terrorists.’
Rebecca Harding, of the Centre for Financial Safety, mentioned the file revealed ‘threats from adversaries, state actors and non-state actors that undergo the enterprise system’.
She added: ‘It’s financial warfare, and we’ve got been naive about all of this.’
The report was compiled by reviewing authorities grants between 2015 and 2021, consulting lecturers and think-tanks, and utilizing open-source reporting on overseas assist fraud.
Professor Nicholas Ryder, a former adviser to the Commons residence affairs committee and an knowledgeable on terrorism funding, mentioned the findings had been ‘staggering’, including: ‘The hyperlink between fraud and terrorist financing may be very clear.’
The Cupboard Workplace mentioned: ‘This Authorities is taking unprecedented motion
to sort out public-sector fraud, having saved over £7.5billion of taxpayer cash up to now yr.’
