"The UK Government Has Bailed Out Companies Complicit in Human Rights Abuses and Environmental Destruction", 17 Aug 2020

VICE News can now reveal that government funds, currently totalling £18.9 billion, have been given to companies that have engaged in fraud, corruption, environmental destruction and the manufacture of chemical weaponry, as well as defence firms that have sold weapons to regimes accused of human rights abuses.

Only the UK’s biggest companies can access funds through the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF)...

American oil giant Schlumberger [...] drew £415 million in UK government funds from the CCFF.

When previously contacted for comment, Schlumberger directed VICE News to its Q2 results, which show the company reported $5.2 billion (£3.9 billion) in worldwide revenue in the second quarter of 2020...

Airbus SE [...] was fined a record breaking €3.6 billion (£3.2 billion) in January of this year following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office...

A company spokesperson said, “Airbus had agreed to pay penalties of nearly €3.6 billion plus interest to the authorities. The company has taken significant steps to reform itself and ensure that this conduct will not reoccur. The company is committed to conducting business with integrity.” ...

Rentokil Initial, which had accessed £600 million from the CCFF by the 18th of April, was given a record fine of £27,000 for failing to comply with a UK competitions and markets information request in August of 2019. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

G4S, the private security company, drew £300 million through the CCFF. On the 10th of July, G4S was fined £44 million after it accepted responsibility for three fraud charges in relation to an electronic tagging scheme...

A G4S spokesperson said, “The BoE facility is a one-year loan and is due to be repaid in full in May 2021. G4S employs 25,000 people in the UK working in our security and cash businesses. Our employees provide essential services to businesses across a number of sectors and to the government.”

The company confirmed that no public money was used to pay the £44 million fine...

The International Hotel Group, which accessed £600 million through the fund, was reported to the United Nations Global Compact in 2019 over alleged “unethical” anti-trade union activity and poor working conditions...

An IHG spokesperson told VICE News “The Bank of England confirmed IHG as an eligible issuer for the UK Government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), and in April we announced that IHG had issued £600m in commercial paper under this facility. This was part of action we took to strengthen our liquidity position, building on our conservative balance sheet approach and the measures taken to reduce costs and preserve cash.”

Defence companies are also among those to have drawn public funds through the CCFF...

Chemring, [Meggit and Rolls Royce] did not respond to requests for comment...

Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) drew £50 million from the CCFF just a month after paying out an estimated £23.45 million in dividends...

ICL did not reply to requests for comment.

Other chemical companies to benefit from government funds include German pharmaceutical compan[ies] BASF SE [and Bayer]...

A BASF spokesperson said, “BASF issued commercial paper to the Bank of England in early April under the bank’s original programme as announced by UK treasury on March 17, and not under the amended programme as announced by the bank on May 19 – which only then contained certain conditions which are not applicable to BASF. Purchases of commercial paper are customary financial market transactions. The transaction with the Bank of England does not include any conditions that restrict capital distributions or senior management remuneration. BASF pays interest on the outstanding commercial paper. Thus, the transaction with the Bank of England under BASF’s existing commercial paper program does not have the character of state aid.” ...

A spokesperson told VICE News, “Bayer is a global enterprise which makes use of global markets and considers the buying of commercial papers as a common financial market transaction.” ...