Catering giant Compass has suspended the chief executive of its UK division as it investigates how United Nations contracts have been awarded.
Shares in Compass dropped sharply after the company suspended Mr Peter Harris, who also heads operations in the Republic of Ireland, the Middle East and Africa.
Compass said it has instructed a law firm to investigate the relationship between its Eurest Support Services (ESS) subsidiary, the United Nations and IHC - a supplier to the UN.
The move comes less than a fortnight after Compass confirmed that ESS was co-operating with authorities in a wide-ranging investigation into UN contracting procedures.
Revenues from contracts with the UN represented less than 0.5 per cent of Compass's turnover of £11.77 billion last year.
It has been reported that the UN wants an explanation as to how Eurest came to have confidential documents containing commercially sensitive information.
The papers were about a multi-million pound, three-year contract to supply food and water to UN peacekeepers in Liberia.
Reports say Eurest - which supplies support services to the defence sector and remote offshore sites - had received an e-mail containing the documents from IHC.