The boss of services company Serco quit today after claims that the firm overcharged taxpayers for tagging offenders.
Chief executive Christopher Hyman said he was going to “step back” in the interests of the company.
It comes three months after ministers told Parliament they were contesting “tens of millions of pounds” of charges from Serco and security firm G4S.
In some cases charges were paid for tagging people who had died or were in prison.
“I have always put the interests of Serco first,” said Mr Hyman. “At this time, nothing is more important to me than rebuilding the relationship with our UK Government customer.
“In recent weeks it has become clear to me that the best way for the company to move forward is for me to step back.”
When the claims emerged, Serco agreed to co-operate fully with a forensic audit and said it did not believe anything dishonest had taken place.
Serco runs swathes of UK contracts, including the Boris bike scheme and the Docklands Light Railways.
The Government has referred the tagging contract to the Serious Fraud Office, which is considering whether to launch an investigation.
