Over £28 billion in UK public funds ended up in the hands of entities tied to organized crime, terrorism, and hostile foreign governments over a six-year stretch. That figure is not a projection or an estimate from a think tank. It comes from an internal Cabinet Office document that was never voluntarily disclosed to the public.
The investigation, conducted by The Telegraph, uncovered a government dossier detailing how taxpayer money was siphoned through foreign aid disbursements, COVID-19 relief loans, and various grant programs between 2015 and 2021. Millions of pounds were specifically traced back to Russia-linked entities and affiliates of the Islamic State.
A systemic failure across departments
The report highlights that the misappropriation was not confined to one channel or one program. Foreign aid payments, which are supposed to flow toward development and humanitarian goals, were exploited. COVID-19 relief loans, which were rushed out the door during the pandemic to keep businesses afloat, became another vector. Grants distributed across various government initiatives added to the total.
The former administration never made the report public. It took journalists at The Telegraph to surface the document in June 2026, raising immediate questions about why such findings were buried and what remediation, if any, was ever attempted.
