G4S fraud corporation gets British taxpayers’ money again

This video is called G4S prison in South Africa ‘torturing inmates’.

Ministers under fire after handing scandal-hit G4s a Help to Work contract

Wednesday 30th April 2014

Ministers were caught in a storm of criticism yesterday after handing the lion’s share of a new programme supposed to get the long-term unemployed into work to security firm G4S while it’s under investigation for fraud.

The Help to Work scheme aims to force people into jobs by threatening to dock their benefits if they refuse to take part.

Those who have been on the government’s existing work programme for more than two years will have to undergo intensive coaching, meet a jobs adviser every day or do community work for up to six months provided by privateers.

But anti-workfare campaigners expressed outrage that G4S, which is still being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over the running of facilities for British courts, was awarded responsibility for providing community work in six out of 18 regions across Britain.

That’s more than any other company in the £300 million contract — even though G4S has already been ordered to pay more than £100m last month for charging the government for tagging criminals who were already dead or in jail.

The National Coalition for Independent Action’s Andy Benson said: “Having failed thousands of unemployed people in the work programme, and been caught with their fingers in the till by overcharging on tagging contracts, it comes as no surprise that once again G4S comes out as the government’s favourite contractor.

“While G4S laughs all the way to the bank, the losers, of course, will once again [be] the long term unemployed.”

What do you have to do to fall out of favour with this government? Last month, the security company G4S was quietly rehabilitated. It had been banned in August 2013 from bidding for government contracts after charging the state for tagging 3,000 phantom criminals. Those who had died before it started monitoring them presented a particularly low escape risk. G4S was obliged to pay £109m back to the government: here.

BRITISH security firm G4S was accused by anti-poverty campaigners yesterday of consenting to the arrest and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities: here.