BEIS committee chair Rachel Reeves MP: ‘Litany of excuses’
MPs investigating the collapse of Carillion have branded its bosses “fantasists” and accused its former chief executive of “chasing a pot of gold” in its dealings with former Qatari client, Msheireb Properties.
The Work and Pensions/Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) joint committee this week published a letter from Msheireb, the Qatari developer Carillion directors said owed them £200m, and hadn’t paid for 18 months, when Carillion was forced into liquidation on 15 January.
The letter disputes claims made by former chief executive Richard Howson and former interim chief executive Keith Cochrane in a hearing on 6 February, and MPs have ruled in Msheireb’s favour, with committee co-chairs Frank Field and Rachel Reeves delivering scathing rebukes.
Howson told the committees that Msheireb owed Carillion £200m when he was removed as CEO in July 2017. Claiming that Carillion’s accounts suggest the amount owed was “actually £72m”, MPs noted that Msheireb “entirely disputes” the statement, instead stating that Howson was “misleadingly” referring to “the value of construction work remaining to be completed” plus “the value of claims relating to further delays”.
Msheireb said that Carillion owed it “a similar amount of money”, including £47m in liquidated damages.
In its letter Msheireb also called Carillion’s performance on the project “generally poor”.
“In particular, the works were not completed in a timely manner and, as a result of delays caused by Carillion’s resourcing, financial issues and problems with their supply chain, Carillion became liable to pay substantial liquidated damages for delay under the Contract.
“The liquidated damages Carillion is due to pay are QAR 237 million (or approximately £47 million) as a result of delays to the progress of the work.”
Work & Pensions Committee chair Frank Field MP was entirely convinced. “This extraordinary exchange reinforces the impression that the upper reaches of Carillion was stocked with fantasists,” he said, adding: “It takes a special kind of optimism…to classify money one hopes to earn in the future, on a challenging project, as money ‘owed’ to you. He cannot tell the difference between money he’d like to be paid, he wishes would be paid, and money that is actually owed to him.”
BEIS committee chair Rachel Reeves (pictured) was equally scathing. “The Carillion directors’ litany of excuses for the collapse of the company is fast unravelling,” she said.
“While spiralling debt problems and failing contracts signalled the alarm to almost everyone but Carillion’s directors and auditors, their former chief executive was jet-setting off to Qatar to chase a pot-of-gold that may never have existed.
“Once again Carillion’s directors appear to have shut their eyes and ears to the real problems at the company and failed dismally to take meaningful action to avert its tragic collapse.”
