BOSSES of one of Britain’s largest aid consultancies have been “reshuffled” amid revelations that the firm falsified evidence to a parliamentary inquiry in a bid protect its multimillion-pound contracts with the government.

The Adam Smith Institute (ASI), a consultancy used by the government to handle taxpayer-funded overseas aid, was heavily criticised for trying to “unduly influence” a committee of MPs investigating the firm’s vast profits last year.

In response the institute has removed its top management team and temporarily withdrawn from bids for new aid contracts.

However human rights group Global Justice Now said the move failed to tackle underlying problems involving the institute.

These include using aid cash to support private sectors abroad including the expansion of private “shack” schools in Kenya, many of which have been forced to close due to poor conditions and teaching.

Global Justice Now aid campaigner Aisha Dodwell said: “It will take more than just a shuffling of the deckchairs for ASI to justify its existence as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Britain’s aid budget.

“Many UK taxpayers would be genuinely shocked if they knew that hundreds of millions of pounds of aid money was going to private consultants in the UK rather than to alleviate the conditions of poverty faced by vulnerable communities in the developing world.”

Ms Dodwell also pointed out that although ASI had demoted those at the top, no committment had been made to reduce its whopping salaries with its highest executives earning £250,000.

The institute has been awarded £450 million in aidfunded contracts by the Department for International Development (DfID) since 2011.

A DfID spokeswoman said: “We welcome ASI’s temporary withdrawal from DfID procurement which recognises the seriousness of our concerns about the supplier’s behaviour.