Lord Agnew calls for British Business Bank resignations over Covid loan fraud
Lord Agnew, the minister who resigned over Covid loan fraud, has attacked the board of the British Business Bank, saying they should be sacked for their handling of the bounce back loan scheme (BBLS).
Lord Agnew of Oulton, who stepped down in January, told the business, energy and industrial strategy committee that non-executives must be held to account for the lack of oversight after having “presided over one of the most colossal cock-ups in recent government management”.
He added that the bank was not able to pressure banks into recovering loans due to a lack of data and transparency in the scheme and there was a lack of oversight of the bank from ministers.
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“What I want to try and do is wind you up into the sort of fury of frustration that I have because the British Business Bank have presided over one of the most colossal cock-ups in recent government management and taxpayers are paying for this, and there is still a slight amount of time to stop it,” Agnew told the committee.
“If you move fast today, you are the last line of defence, I have failed but you have the power to get this information from the British Business Bank.”
However, Patrick Magee, chief commercial officer at the British Business Bank, and Richard Bearman, its managing director of small business lending, said that a dashboard with lots of data on fraud and lender performance was available for ministers. They said the bank had good standards of governance.
Last week, Lord Agnew attacked the government for its handling of the fraud, describing it as a “Dad’s army” operation.
According to the public accounts committee’s Covid-19 cost tracker update, taxpayers face a bill of at least £15.7bn as a result of fraud and error within the Covid-19 support schemes, with the final cost likely to top £20bn.