Media: corruption in UK public sector quadrupled during coronavirus pandemic
The corruption scales in the British public sector increased from £5.5bn ($6.71bn) in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 financial years to £21bn ($25.62bn) in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, TASS reports with reference to the National Audit Office (NAO)
According to NAO’s C&AG, Gareth Davies, quoted by Reuters, there is a significant increase in the number of fraudulent schemes in the British annual reports that the office checks.
Auditors note that £7.3bn ($8.9bn) settled in the pockets of officials as a result of providing loans to private businesses to combat the effects of coronavirus infection. However, the real figure could be even higher: at the end of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Public Sector Fraud Authority revealed a budget shortfall of about £58.8bn ($71.7bn), not counting the costs associated with coronavirus infection.
British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, in response to the results of the audit, said that the fight against corruption in the provision of state aid to businesses is one of the main directions of the UK policy. The Labour Party deputy leader, Angela Rayner, noted that ‘the current government completely neglects its responsibilities to combat this type of crime’.
