A major player in the charitable distribution of hundreds of millions of pounds worth of foreign aid supplied by the Department for International Development has been caught using concocted testimonials from its staff to influence a Parliamentary inquiry into its performance.

Peter Young, director of strategy of Adam Smith International (ASI) briefed his staff on how to write glowing testimonials that sounded genuine, advising them that “it would not be plausible for an illiterate farmer to write a long note in perfect written English” and to have different members of staff “write individual submissions in each case, otherwise it will look too suspicious” One member of ASI staff responded that “The challenge has been in ensuring the two sound sufficiently different while conveying the main points Peter outlined”.

Young has refused to reveal his total income from ASI but it is known he paid himself, in one year, a dividend of £800,000 and that profits at ASI after tax were £14.3 million in 2014.