Reports of a £1m payout to bosses of failed rail network maintenance company Metronet have angered unions.
The Metronet partnership was designed to boost private investment in the London Underground. But the company collapsed after claiming it had £2bn of extra costs.
Five executives were sacked by Ernst & Young, the firm in charge of administration, including chief executive Andrew Lezala and chief financial officer Philip Pacey, but they are reported to have settled for payouts of up to £500,000.
RMT union assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski said: “Andrew Lezala and his colleagues will be laughing all the way to the bank.
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“They have pocketed more than £1m of taxpayers’ money for showing themselves unable to organise a booze-up in a brewery.
“This outrage underlines the need for the powers that be to award the Metronet contract to Transport for London, rather than place it in the dubious hands of yet another private company,” Sikorski added.