NAO catalogues abuse of satellite phones
Taxpayers pay for huge phone bill
Public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has slammed the Foreign
Office after thieves who stole satellite phones were allowed to go on using them
for a year, building up a collective phone bill of more than £700,000.
In its report, the NAO slammed the Foreign Office for its ‘weaknesses’ and
‘numerous failures’.
The first phone was barred in August but had already run up a £10,365 bill;
the second phone appears to have stopped working in March last year, by which
stage £115,963 of calls had been made; and the final phone was turned off in
June last year when the bill hit £594,370.