These foreign aid firms really have no shame

Amazon’s prime mistake

Your articles last week on foreign aid highlight just how thoroughly corrupt parts of the UK charity sector are. You found that Adam Smith International, a company that delivers aid programmes, tried to deceive MPs and protect their business by submitting to an inquiry glowing testimonials about their work – testimonials that were actually drafted by the firm’s staff.

It is not just corrupt foreign officials that siphon off UK taxpayer aid – plenty appears to go missing long before it ever leaves these shores.

The entire concept of foreign aid is ripe for review. One of the positives of a so-called hard Brexit would be that if we left the single market, we would be free to help developing countries trade their way out of poverty, which is a much better long-term prospect than simply delivering aid to them.

Tim Raymond, Seabrook, Kent Why doesn’t the Government give our foreign aid money to UK-based charities that do sterling work abroad on our behalf? This will have many advantages, not least cutting back on misuse but also supporting our charities, creating jobs and, most importantly, winning hearts and minds abroad. This would also improve our image, which is sadly lacking around the world at the moment.

Peter Sutcliffe, Newcastle I was left feeling angry after reading your article last week about how Amazon treats its workers. The company obviously counts every single penny, so that it can offer the best price and selection for the customer, which is commendable. But running a business the way it does is not good for employees – demands on their time are very What appals me about the behaviour of Adam Smith International is the brazen efforts to cheat both some of the world’s poorest people and also British taxpayers.

Of course, it reveals the weakness of the foreign aid system, where the well-intentioned people at DFID hand out money to smooth private contractors who, in turn, deal with some corrupt governments and organisations in countries where genuine aid – were it to reach the appropriate people – would be greatly appreciated.

I’m sure that DFID does some highly valuable work with excellent results, but stories like this make me wonder if the staff there are a little bit naive.

The effect of this isn’t just that good money is squandered, but high and morale is low. I have bought a lot from Amazon over the years, but I will think twice before I do so again. Anna Hammett, Neston, Cheshire Amazon staff have a reasonable hourly rate, a clean environment and breaks. What is the problem?

Sandra Steeples, Berkhamsted worse: aid money can fall into the hands of terrorists, as you have pointed out.

Stephen Carleton, London What do you expect will happen when you get private companies to play such a big role in spending our aid money? Their motivation is profit so they will do what they can to make sure that those profits are sustained. In a way, I don’t really blame them. They are behaving just as private companies do. The real fault lies with the Government and the misguided notion that the private sector can play roles that should be the domain of the public sector. Whenever the issue of profit is brought into any service – such as the NHS – that service is always compromised.

D. Bough, Glasgow