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File on 4: Britain's Ghost Companies

Britain's Ghost Companies

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4, Britain's Ghost Companies

Why thousands of foreign directors head up UK firms they actually have little to do with.

Thousands of the poorest people in the Philippines are being recruited as directors of British Companies.  And why that’s costing us all millions of pounds in unpaid taxes.

Tens of thousands of men and women in some of the poorest parts of the Philippines are being recruited to be directors of companies based in the UK. Companies which have no offices or full time staff, they don’t buy or sell anything, in fact they only exist on paper. But as Angus Crawford has discovered they form part of a complex web which may be costing Britain tens of millions of pounds in lost tax.  A web designed by experts in order to shield firms from the full costs of employing their workers.  His investigation reveals a trail which leads from a single mother in the Home Counties, via the backstreets of Manila, to workers at Covid testing stations across the UK.  

Reporter: Angus Crawford
Producer: Anna Meisel
Editor: Gail Champion

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