Bandit Capitalism

The collapse in January 2018 of the construction giant Carillion, outsourcer of huge Govern-ment building contracts, is one of the great financial scandals of modern times. When it fold-ed it had only �29 million in the bank and debts and other liabilities adding up to a staggering �7 billion. When the total losses were counted it was established that the banks were owed �1.3 billion in loans and that there was a hole in the pension fund of �2.6 billion. British taxpayers joined the long list of creditors, losing about �150 million.

On one level, this is a familiar story of directors who systematically looted a company with the aim of their own enrichment. But in a wider context the Carillion catastrophe exposes eve-rything that is wrong about the state we are in now