Bosses ‘tried to sabotage disabled car cash probe’
MILLIONAIRE bosses at the Motability car scheme have been accused of trying to dodge a full probe into its finances.
Forensic accountants at the National Audit Office are preparing to examine the charitable scheme for the disabled whose chief earns 11 times more than the Prime Minister.
But while in public Motability ‘warmly welcomes’ the possibility of an NAO investigation, behind the scenes it appears to have been trying to blunt it, according to several sources.
Labour MP Frank Field called it ‘insufferable’ that squirming Motability bosses ‘appear they have something to hide’. Motability arranges cars for disabled people in exchange for their state disability allowance. A Mail investigation revealed in February that it is paying its boss Mike Betts £1.7million and hoarding an astonishing £2.4billion of public money in reserves. If handed to the Treasury, it could fund seven new hospitals.
Mr Field, who chairs the Commons work and pensions select committee, held a joint inquiry with the Treasury select committee which, as the Daily Mail reported on Monday, found salaries at the firm were ‘totally out of whack with reality’.
Yesterday Mr Field said: ‘It is insufferable if a company can’t be open to public scrutiny when all its income comes from the Government.
‘What is the reason for this resistance? Why is it they wish to appear they have something to hide?’
He added: ‘As a result of the Mail’s investigation, and the MPs’ inquiry, we discovered very concerning things about Motability and we are on the cusp of having them properly looked at by the NAO accountants. We are determined that it should not be a watered-down inquiry. It is imperative that any such inquiry has full access to all information.’
It is understood the NAO would have agreed to carry out a probe weeks ago if Motability had pledged unrestricted access to its books.
Lord Sterling, chairman of the Motability charity, which oversees the company Motability Operations, confirmed that the terms of the inquiry had been under ‘active discussion’. But he insisted: ‘We at Motability wish to have a review and indeed wish it to be fully published so that the issues raised in recent weeks can be put to rest.’
Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said an agreement had been reached with Motability to allow the NAO accountants to start work.
When the Mail exposed the £2.4billion Motability scandal, we revealed how Mr Betts, 56, lives in a £5million riverside apartment overlooking Tower Bridge.
The firm’s chairman Neil Johnson was paid £173,000 in 2017. Former second-in-command David Gilman – whose riverside apartment is just across the Thames from Mr Betts’ – was paid £1.1million in 2016, and his replacement Matthew HamiltonJames earned £550,000 last year.
Motability Operations insisted boardroom pay was comparable to the bosses of FTSE 250 companies, but MPs said they ran a risk-free firm with a monopoly on government money for disabled drivers, adding: ‘The level of executive pay is totally unacceptable.’
For a decade Motability has been squirrelling away £200million a year in unspent funds, which has resulted in ‘spare’ cash of £2.4billion.
Treasury committee chairman Nicky Morgan said: ‘Motability is a very worthy scheme, set up for very worthy motives, but it has lost its way somewhat.’ Motability said: ‘We look forward to engaging with the NAO as it conducts its review.’