G4S boss receives record £4.8m in pay and bonuses despite string of scandals

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The boss of private security firm G4S received a record £4.8m in pay and bonuses over the last year despite the firm being embroiled a string of scandals.

Ashley Almanza’s total reward has increased by 75 per cent since he received £2.7m in 2015 and included a £1.3m bonus on top of his salary and various financial incentives such as shares in the company.

This is despite a wave of scandals which has hit the world’s largest security firm in recent years – mostly recently the revelation that people may have been wrongly sent to prison by faulty electronic tags fitted by G4S.

The firm, which currently holds hundreds of UK Government contracts and employs around 600,000 people, has also struggled to sell its youth prisons contracts after a young offenders unit in Medway, Kent was returned to Ministry of Justice control last year when allegations of child abuse by staff emerged.

Staff were captured using excessive force to restrain children, bullying vulnerable youngsters and giving false accounts to cover them up in undercover footage.

It was also embarrassed by major prison riots in Birmingham last year and attracted controversy over housing asylum seekers in easily identifiable properties with red doors in Middlesbrough.

The South African accountant has run the firm since Nick Buckles stepped down in 2013 after the company’s bungled recruitment of guards for the London Olympics in 2012 forced the Army to step in.

UK Government contracts now make up just five per cent of G4S’ business.

Last year, Mr Almanza took a reduced bonus of £956,000 after the group announced a slump in profits.

But last month the group revealed a nearly 10 per cent boost to profits over the course of 2016 and shares in the company have surged by more than 60 per cent.

In a statement to The Sunday Times, the company said: “Under Ashley Almanza’s management and leadership the company has delivered a strong performance and his remuneration reflects that performance.”