High life of third world poverty quango bosses: Officials 'lived it up in luxury hotels at taxpayers' expense'

Officials at an anti-poverty quango are ' living it up' in luxury hotels at taxpayers' expense, devastating documents reveal.

Executives at the Commonwealth Development Corporation also dined in London's finest restaurants, according to Freedom of Information replies seen by the Daily Mail.

Taxpayers were billed more than £700 for a dinner for CDC non-executive directors at the Michelin-starred L'Autre Pied restaurant.

Shonaid Jemmett-Page (left) claimed £336.54 for a taxi from Brussels to Paris while Richard Laing (right) claimed £7,414 in expenses last year



In another case, chief operating officer Shonaid Jemmett-Page claimed £336.54 for a taxi from Brussels to Paris.



Another executive at the government-owned quango, Anubha Shrivastava, claimed £530 for a one-night stay at the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong, and £661.48 for a twonight stay at the five-star Portman Ritz Carlton in Shanghai.



Chief executive Richard Laing, who hit the headlines last year when it emerged he had pocketed salary and bonuses totalling £970,000, claimed £7,414 in expenses last year, including £1,557 in unspecified taxi fares in London.



Lap of luxury: CDC chief executive Richard Laing claimed £254 for a night at Singapore's five-star Fullerton hotel

Mr Laing also claimed £254 for a night at Singapore's five-star Fullerton Hotel.



At the other end of the scale, he billed taxpayers £3.29 for a notebook and claimed back a £5 taxi tip.



The organisation last night insisted that all its expenses were 'reasonable'.



The CDC, which has access to £2.5billion of taxpayers' money, was set up after the Second World War to invest in private-sector projects in the poorest countries in the world.



It was built up with government cash and is owned by the taxpayer. For the past 15 years, the CDC says it has been 'self-financing' and has not called for extra assistance.



But no profits are returned to government. Instead, they are 'reinvested' in the CDC.



Critics say this has led to a cosy arrangement where bosses simply pay themselves ever-increasing salaries and 'performance' bonuses. A report last year found that senior executives earn an average of £435,000 each.



Another criticism is that staff consider themselves to be business high-fliers who now strike deals far removed from their employer's original ideals.



These include cash to back mobile phone projects and shopping centres. Countries targeted include the rapidly expanding economies of China and India.



L'Autre Pied restaurant: Taxpayers were billed more than £700 for a dinner for CDC non-executive directors at the Michelin-starred restaurant

The suggestion is the organisation, wholly owned by the Department for International Development (DFID), has lost its way and is focused too heavily on maximising financial returns.



Under the coalition agreement, DFID's budget is protected - the only department to be granted this privilege aside from the Department of Health.



CDC officials may be forced to explain their expenses bills as part of the review launched by the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.



A DFID spokesconfirmed last night that Mr Mitchell had launched an 'urgent review'. He added: 'Lavish expenses are completely unacceptable.



The Secretary of State has set up a review of all aspects of CDC's work, including pay and remuneration.'



Richard Bacon, a Tory member of the Commons public accounts committee, which criticised the CDC last year, said: 'I am sad to say it does not particularly surprise me that they should turn out to have been living it up in very expensive hotels and restaurants.'



John Hilary, executive director of the charity War on Want, said the expenses provided further evidence that the CDC had become a ' travesty' of its former self.



He said: 'CDC has completely abandoned its mandate of poverty reduction in favour of one of wealth creation. It is a travesty.'



Mrs Jemmett-Page was among the organisation's highest expenses claimants last year, lodging receipts totalling £9,572.



As well as the taxi from Brussels to Paris, she also claimed £480.61 for a stay at the five-star Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, India.



In one extraordinary claim, the CDC's then chairman Sir Malcolm Williamson submitted a bill for £701.44 for a dinner at L'Autre Pied.



Miriam de Lacy, CDC's communications director, insisted all the expenses were 'reasonable'.



She said: 'Our investment team spend a huge amount of the year travelling and we do not think it is unreasonable at all that they should stay in a decent hotel in a way that allows them to do their work properly.



'We believe all the expenses we incur in the course of business are reasonable.'

