Summary:
G4S has agreed to pay £108.9m to settle a tagging scandal that saw taxpayers overcharged for identifying criminals who were already in custody.

Full article:
By . Jack Doyle . PUBLISHED: . 18:15 EST, 12 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 18:31 EST, 12 March 2014 . Security firm G4S has agreed to repay more than £130 million after overcharging the Government for tagging criminals. The embattled firm agreed to cough up 108.9million, plus VAT, only months after it offered to pay just a quarter of that sum. The settlement follows an audit last year showing that taxpayers had been routinely charged for tags on criminals who were in jail, living abroad or even dead. Time to pay: Security firm G4S has agreed to repay £108.9million, plus VAT, after overcharging the British Government . Costs of cleaning up the scandal helped pushed the company - a member of the FTSE 100 index - to an annual loss. It reported a pre-tax loss of £170million, compared to a profit of £313million the year before. The group is still blacklisted by ministers, meaning it cannot bid for new taxpayer-funded work. Almost £200 million was also wiped from the FTSE 100-listed company’s value yesterday as shares fell by more than 5 per cent. In December, tagging contractor Serco agreed to pay £68.5 million plus tax after wrongly invoicing the Ministry of Justice. Bad times: The security firm reported a £170m pre-tax loss for 2013, compared to £313m profit in 2012 .