MPs have called on the government to launch an urgent investigation into millions of pounds in offshore transactions made by one of the country’s largest asylum accommodation providers.
Clearsprings’ parent company has reported paying £17.1m in consultancy fees to Bespoke Strategy Solutions (BSS), a United Arab Emirates-based consultancy firm that it says is owned at least in part by Clearsprings founder Graham King.
But the only firm with that name on the UAE corporate register told Liberty Investigates and openDemocracy that it did not receive the payments and has no link to King or Clearsprings, which holds Home Office contracts estimated to be worth several billion pounds.
UAE corporate records also show that BSS was founded years after Clearsprings said it made its first payment to the firm in 2018/19.
BSS’s registered founder, Swati Naidu, said: “Bespoke Strategy Solutions was set up in 2022 here in Dubai and I am the sole shareholder, director, manager, with no connections to whoever this Graham King is.”
No other BSS appears on the corporate registry, and the UAE’s Ministry of Economy states that company names “must be unique and not be similar to the name of any other registered company”.
We have repeatedly asked Clearsprings to clarify the ownership of BSS, which it reports sending payments to in its annual financial accounts, and explain why the firm cannot be found on the UAE register, but have had no response.
Politicians and tax experts have urged the government to launch an investigation into the payments.
Labour MP Kate Osamor said: “Clearsprings is funnelling money offshore in an extremely opaque way. I believe that HMRC should carry out a thorough investigation.”
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP who serves on the Home Affairs Committee, said she hoped to obtain answers about Clearsprings’ financial arrangements as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into asylum accommodation.
Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, said: “It must be a concern that such large payments were made by a company receiving public funds to a consultancy that has not yet been shown even to exist.”
This was echoed by Claire Aston, director at TaxWatch, who added: “There desperately needs to be an investigation before any further public money is paid out to Clearsprings.”
openDemocracy and Liberty Investigates asked Clearsprings about Naidu’s comments but did not hear back.
Clearsprings’ alleged payments to BSS were first brought to light by Liberty Investigates, a human rights journalism unit, soon after the new government entered office last July.
Since then, the asylum accommodation provider has reported paying a further £1.2m to BSS in its accounts for the year ending January 2024, bringing the total it says it has paid to the firm to £17.1m.
A spokesperson for the Home Office declined to say whether the department had sought clarification from Clearsprings about the payments.
They said: “This contract was awarded under the previous administration. Contractors and their providers are closely monitored to ensure they are meeting the standards required.”
Clearsprings (Management) Limited has described the payments to BSS as “administrative expenses in respect of consultancy services” in its annual accounts since 2019.
The accounts also state that King is a shareholder in BSS. Clearsprings did not respond to our requests for more information about BSS, the services it provides, or King’s stake in the company.
Clearsprings’ auditor, which is responsible for compiling its annual accounts, did not respond to enquiries from openDemocracy and Liberty Investigates.
Other Labour MPs joined the calls for a government probe into the matter. Phil Brickell, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said: “I hope that any irregularities will be investigated and clarified urgently.”
The majority of the payments to BSS have been made since Clearsprings Ready Homes won two lucrative Home Office contracts to run asylum accommodation in England and Wales in January 2019.
The contracts were originally estimated to be worth £1bn over 10 years, but the cost to the government has spiralled as the asylum backlog has built up, with asylum seekers often placed in expensive hotels and Clearspings acting as a middleman.
Clearsprings’ profits have risen more than 600-fold since the contracts were awarded and recently reported annual profits of £90m. It appears to make most of its £1.75bn turnover from its two government contracts.
King, the firm’s owner, has become one of Britain’s richest men, with a reported wealth of more than £750m.
The company has faced sustained criticism over reports of poor standards at its accommodation and the behaviour of its staff.
Osamor added: “Clearsprings has already been shown to profit off the poor living conditions and misery of people who have fled war and persecution, and it is unacceptable it continues to receive such large government contracts for asylum accommodation.”
