A group of civil servants is accused of “profiteering at the expense of the taxpayer” by MPs on Tuesday in a scathing parliamentary report into the privatisation of Qinetiq, the defence research group.

An inquiry by the public accounts committee accuses the Ministry of Defence of bungling the sale and shortchanging the taxpayer out of at least £90m. The department acted “like an innocent at a table of cardsharps”, said Edward Leigh, committee chairman.