Sanctioned Chinese language corporations linked to the ruling Communist get together have pocketed tens of hundreds of kilos of taxpayer money through the UK’s furlough scheme, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Controversial corporations blacklisted by the US over fears they’ve contributed to the repression of Uighur Muslims took cash from the UK Authorities to pay their employees’s wages in the course of the nationwide lockdown.
Corporations blacklisted by the US over fears they contributed to the repression of Uighur Muslims took cash from the UK Authorities to pay their employees’s wages throughout lockdown
Chinese language surveillance agency Hikvision claimed over £10,000 from the Treasury, however has insisted it has paid it again. Pictured: File picture of Hikvision safety digicam exterior of a store in Beijing
The businesses, which embody China Cellular, are mentioned to be an enormous safety concern owing to their alleged affiliation with the Communist regime, a declare denied by their bosses.
Though China Cellular is topic to an funding ban within the US, the UK Authorities has not imposed the identical curbs.
It means the corporate, which has an workplace in London, was in a position to declare furlough cash which makes use of taxpayers’ cash to pay staff 80 per cent of their ordinary revenue as much as a most of £2,500 per 30 days.
Chinese language surveillance agency Hikvision additionally claimed greater than £10,000 from the Treasury, however has insisted it has paid it again.
Final night time, critics known as for an intensive audit of the emergency Covid scheme.
Sam Goodman, senior coverage adviser on the UK-based stress group Hong Kong Watch, mentioned: ‘These funds reveal the pressing want for an audit of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to disclose the extent to which international owned firms topic to sanctions or funding bans have profited from the scheme.’