UK security firm G4S has come under increased scrutiny this week after a High Court judge referred three of its employees to the Director of Public Prosecutions. G4S, the world’s largest security firm, operates Brook House immigration removal centre in Gatwick. The High Court judge’s referral stems from witness statements given during an immigration appeal involving allegations of torture at the hands of a foreign government.
Hearing the immigration appeal, Justice Mostyn said the G4S employees colluded in “corruptly redacting” an official certificate, which in turn augmented the case against an immigrant who was being deported from the UK. The asylum seeker also claimed he had been beaten with a heated metal rod when he arrived in his native country, because UK officials refused to remove incriminating paperwork from his luggage which associated him with anti-government organisations.
Justice Mostyn said “The conduct of the secretary of state’s agents in falsifying the [official certificate] is corrupt and truly shocking”. The judge made no distinction between corruption by public officials and corruption by private entities working as agents of the state – “It makes no difference if, as here, the agents are private contractors to whom the secretary of state has outsourced her powers, corruption by state officials is insidious and corrosive and it is the duty of the authorities where it is found to root it out ruthlessly”.
Click here to read an article in the Guardian summarising Justice Mostyn’s findings.
Click here to read the full judgment.
The provision of asylum seeker services by private entities has also come under increased scrutiny in Ireland in recent months. Click here to read an October 2013 Bulletin article about the provision of asylum seeker accommodation by foreign owned limited liability firms.