Union Unite has called for a criminal investigation to be launched into the circumstances surrounding the failure of industry giant, Carillion.

In January this year, the industry firm collapsed into liquidation with some £7 billion of liabilities, including a £2.6bn pension fund deficit with just £29 million left in the bank.

Over 3,000 staff out of the company's 19,000-strong workforce have been made redundant, while a further 35,000 people employed in the supply chain and via sub-contractors were affected, leaving hundreds if not thousands of workers out of a job.

Now, Unite is stepping up calls for a full public inquiry after a number of revelations which expose mismanagement and dubious practices which led to the firm's failure. Sir John Bourn, the former auditor general has described Carillion as acting like a ‘Ponzi scheme', while finance expert Frances Coppola has said that Carillion ‘was effectively insolvent from 2016'.

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In addition, less than a year before it collapsed, Carillion paid out record dividends to its shareholders on the basis the company was performing so well. Furthermore, while workers were being made redundant, many of Carillion's former directors and senior managers have managed to secure new employment.

Speaking at the TUC Congress in Manchester today, 10 September, Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: "Eight months after Carillion's collapse the Insolvency Service is only just beginning to investigate if laws were broken. This is simply too little too late.

"There must be an immediate criminal investigation into Carillion. And we the trade union movement must lead that call. If no laws were broken, then we need, better, stronger laws."

Continuing, Ms Cartmail added the government and other organisations are treating Carillion's collapse "as business as normal".

"There is nothing normal about the biggest corporate collapse in the UK's history," she said.

"While thousands of workers have been thrown on the scrapheap, those responsible for driving the company into the ditch, have dusted themselves off and started again as if nothing had happened.

"If nothing criminal occurred then we should be told how on earth it can be legal to have embarked on the policies pursued by Carillion's management team which drove it to the wall with little prior warning."

(LM)