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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Kalyeena Makortoff

Covid support schemes left ‘open goal’ to fraudsters, says watchdog

Dame Meg Hillier
Dame Meg Hillier said the business department’s failure to act had added ‘billions and billions to taxpayer woes’. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/EMPICS Entertainment

The business department’s handling of Covid support schemes left an “open goal” to fraudsters and embezzlers that has added “billions to taxpayer woes”, parliament’s spending watchdog has found.

In its review of the annual report of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it recognised that the government offered crucial support to businesses at the height of the pandemic.

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