Carillion bosses face grilling from MPs

Former Carillion bosses are being summoned for a grilling by two committees of MPs.

The joint probe has been launched by the Work and Pensions and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committees.

Witnesses to be called include chief executive Richard Howson, chairman Phillip Green, finance directors Richard Adam, Zafar Khan and Emma Mercer and interim chief executive Keith Cochrane.

The MPs will also look into Carillion’s pension deficit and the actions of KPMG who signed-off accounts.

Frank Field MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, said: “Another day, another company goes bust hot on the heels of a clean bill of health from a Big Four financial services firm.

“The particularly nasty twist in this now grimly familiar tale is the mountain of debt and giant pension deficit this public services contractor leaves in the wreckage of its collapse– with an accompanying massive hit to the public purse.

“It must also be time now for the auditors who cosily signed off this disaster-in-the-making as a ‘going concern’ less than a year ago to begin to account for themselves.”

Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee said: “In the wake of the BHS scandal, Carillion has the hallmarks of another corporate governance failure with directors asleep at the wheel while the business went off a cliff, in this case leaving jobs, pensions and public services under threat and a host of suppliers out of pocket.

“How is it that so many warning signs were ignored by the company and the Government?

“What were the Carillion board and senior management doing to address the spiralling problems at the company?

“Why are the regulatory bodies stepping in only after Carillion’s collapse?

“As a Committee we will also want to explore the executive pay arrangements at Carillion, the potential cost to the taxpayer of the insolvency, and the role of both directors and non-executive directors in the company’s collapse.”

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/01/24/carillion-bosses-face-grilling-from-mps/

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