A4e whistleblowers gagged from revealing 'daming' allegations Two of the whistleblowers were auditors and all had come prepared to tell their stories in public about A4e, which is paid around £200 million a year by the Government to find jobs for unemployed people. But MPs on the Public Accounts Committee decided the allegations were so serious that they should be kept private until properly investigated. The company is already the subject of a police investigation, which has led to eight arrests and sparked a range of other official inquiries. A4e denies all allegations of fraud. When the end of the hearing was opened to the public, MPs referred to a leaked audit report of A4e which found nine possible instances of fraud and claimed one jobseeker had been found work as a lapdancer. Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Grimsby, said the committee had heard a "damning indictment of the structure and practices of A4e" and asked whether the company was "fit and proper." Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions, later said he would thoroughly look into the new claims "if they are put in front of me."