21 September 2012 | 13:33

G4S 'high-risk' after Olympic security fiasco: lawmakers

Photo courtesy of blogs.ft.com

British security giant G4S should be registered as a "high-risk" company after it failed to provide enough guards for the Olympics, AFP reports citing lawmakers. An extra 4,700 British troops were drafted in to secure the London Games after G4S revealed it could not completely fulfil its £284-million ($461 million, 355 million-euro) contract to provide 10,400 security staff for venues. The company should forego its £57 million management fee to show taxpayers it is "serious about making good for its mistakes", the House of Commons home affairs committee said in a report published Friday. The cross-party group of lawmakers called for G4S to be put on a list of "high-risk" companies that have "failed in the delivery of public services". Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: "Far from being able to stage two games on two continents at the same time, as they recklessly boasted, G4S could not even stage one. "The largest security company in the world, providing a contract to their biggest UK client, turned years of carefully laid preparations into an eleventh hour fiasco." He said the data the company provided to the Olympic Security Board were "at best unreliable, at worst downright misleading". "Their decision not to bid for Rio 2016 is the right one," he added. G4S has said the episode will cost the company about £50 million as it struggles to recover from the fiasco. Pre-tax profits slumped 60 percent to £61 million in the six months to the end of June, hit also by restructuring costs after it slashed 1,100 jobs worldwide. Net profits tumbled 74 percent to £30 million. Under-fire chief executive Nick Buckles has previously apologised and said he was "deeply disappointed" about the shortfall.

British security giant G4S should be registered as a "high-risk" company after it failed to provide enough guards for the Olympics, AFP reports citing lawmakers. An extra 4,700 British troops were drafted in to secure the London Games after G4S revealed it could not completely fulfil its £284-million ($461 million, 355 million-euro) contract to provide 10,400 security staff for venues. The company should forego its £57 million management fee to show taxpayers it is "serious about making good for its mistakes", the House of Commons home affairs committee said in a report published Friday. The cross-party group of lawmakers called for G4S to be put on a list of "high-risk" companies that have "failed in the delivery of public services". Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: "Far from being able to stage two games on two continents at the same time, as they recklessly boasted, G4S could not even stage one. "The largest security company in the world, providing a contract to their biggest UK client, turned years of carefully laid preparations into an eleventh hour fiasco." He said the data the company provided to the Olympic Security Board were "at best unreliable, at worst downright misleading". "Their decision not to bid for Rio 2016 is the right one," he added. G4S has said the episode will cost the company about £50 million as it struggles to recover from the fiasco. Pre-tax profits slumped 60 percent to £61 million in the six months to the end of June, hit also by restructuring costs after it slashed 1,100 jobs worldwide. Net profits tumbled 74 percent to £30 million. Under-fire chief executive Nick Buckles has previously apologised and said he was "deeply disappointed" about the shortfall.

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