Called to ordure
Private Eye  No. 1406
27 November–10 December 2015
The further MPs probe into the Kids Company affair, (a British charity that received millions in public funds) the smellier things become. The latest parliamentary hearing into the bankrupt charity had MPs shaking their heads in amazement.

The committee also examined the use by the Cabinet Office of a report by accountants PwC on a series of complaints leveled at Kids Company, such as buying a pair of designer shoes for a “client”. The accountants found that one complaint had no merit and the others would require more investigation.

The report had been commissioned by Kids Company and prepared by PwC in just three days, so of course no smoking gun was found.

Asked by committee chairman Bernard Jenkin how he felt “about your report basically being used as propaganda to get money out of the taxpayer that clearly should not have been paid”, PwC partner Will Richardson insisted: “We did a very good job with a good team, which I am very proud of, in a very short period of time.”

“How much do you think ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’ is a sufficient justification for the professional conduct of a major firm of auditors?” was another question Richardson stonewalled.

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