G4S sells subsidiary running services at Guantánamo Bay for $135m G4S has sold its US subsidiary that runs the controversial Guantánamo Bay US naval base, where 149 terrorism suspects are being held without charge. The British security firm said on Wednesday that it had sold its US government solutions division, which runs all the cleaning and facilities services at the base, to an undisclosed buyer for $135m (£85m). The sale comes less than three months after G4S secured a $117m contract to run the services at the base in south-eastern Cuba. G4S's exit from the military prison comes shortly after the human rights charity Reprieve submitted a formal complaint to the UK government claiming the firm's staff may "contribute to the ongoing human rights violations" at Guantánamo. Reprieve's 17-page complaint, lodged with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: "Any company that fully considers the human rights abuses committed at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre would find it impossible to justify accepting a contract that enables the continued detention and contributes to the suffering of detainees." G4S said the contract did not cover any direct services to the prison. It said: "We take our responsibilities on human rights very seriously. We announced our decision to sell G4S Government Solutions in March 2013 and stated at the time that a significant part of the rationale was due to our inability to have control or influence over the business as a non-US parent. The business has operated independently to G4S under a mitigated FOCI [foreign ownership control and influence] structure, due to the confidential nature of some of its US government contracts. The US defence department said the contract was to maintain "operating support services" including "family housing, facility management, facility investment, other (swimming pools), custodial, pest control, integrated solid waste management, grounds maintenance and landscaping, base support vehicles and equipment, electrical, wastewater, water, and limited facilities support functions." The announcement did not mention the detention centre. Kevin Lo, a lawyer at Reprieve, said: "It is crucial that the government investigates the support provided by G4S for Guantánamo, regardless of today's sale announcement. G4S must not be allowed to wriggle out of their responsibility for helping to run the legal black hole that is Guantánamo Bay. The British government's stated policy is that Guantánamo should close. G4S, as the recipient of significant public funding, should not be allowed to undermine this policy without having to at least answer for it. Reprieve's goal in filing the complaint has not changed, and we continue to seek transparency from the company regarding the scope of the contract and how it may play a role in ongoing human rights abuses. Allan Hogarth, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs, said: "Guantánamo's become a byword for human rights abuse and we always said that G4S shouldn't have been playing any part in what goes on there. Businesses have a responsibility to ensure that their operations don't cause or in any way perpetuate human rights violations. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills should investigate whether G4S has breached OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] guidelines in seeking to make a profit out of Guantánamo. G4S has been involved in a series of controversies in recent years, from failing to supply enough security staff for the 2012 London Olympics to overcharging the government for electronic tags on prisoners who had been returned to jail or were dead. Earlier this year the company paid £130m to the government to settle the tagging scandal, which the Serious Fraud Office is still investigating.