It is being claimed that two subcontractor suppliers on HS2 are being investigated after evidence was found indicating that a senior works manager had accepted bribes from a supplier in return for extra work on the project.
It is also alleged in a letter seen by The Construction Index that another subcontractor has been supplying self-employed CIS workers while charging an inflated PAYE rate and using fraudulent offshore payroll companies to process these bogus payments.
“This is fraud on a large scale which the public have a right to be informed of,” the whistleblower says.
The companies named in the letter have been contacted by us for comment. All deny knowledge of the allegations.
Aside from an anonymous testimony, there is no evidence of any wrongdoing.
The allegations come amid a recent increase in bribery and corruption being exposed in the construction industry and action being taken to combat it.
In the past couple of months we have reported on four separate cases: