G4S: getting away with fraud, torture, and arbitrary detention?

The chair of the public accounts committee, Margaret Hodge, has lambasted the government for allowing G4S and Serco to bid for outsourcing contracts whilst under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and the City of London over overcharging for services provided to the Ministry of Justice, The Guardian reports. A National Audit Office report released last week highlights systematic failures in the contract management process which leave the government open to being overbilled.

Kevin Lo, writing in The Huffington Post, raised further concerns over the complacency of the British Government, and the integrity of G4S in general, as a result of the security firm being awarded a contract to run services at Guantanamo Bay. He called for the British Government to investigate exactly what G4S will be providing at the detention centre in order to give credibility to their denunciation of the facility.

Tom Sanderson, writing in OurKingdom, draws attention to the rather muted response from Barnardo's to the catalogue of breaches of their 'red lines' policy by G4S in the Cedars detention centre. 'Red lines' was intended as a series of safeguards against potential harms caused to children caught up in the immigration process. If breached Barnardo's were supposed to withdraw their services, but they have not enacted this, nor have they attempted to hold G4S sufficiently to account.