MAKERS of Grenfell Tower’s flammable cladding have handed shareholders $74 million (£54.7m) for financial losses incurred after the 2017 fire which killed 72 people.

More was given to shareholders of Arconic, which produced the cladding panels, than was ever given to victims, an investigation revealed yesterday.

Arconic only paid $43m (£31.8m) to the estates of victims and survivors after a lengthy legal battle.

All but $2m (£1.4m) was covered by Arconic’s insurers in both payouts, a report by think tank Common Wealth and financial investigations group Find revealed.

They found Arconic has “successfully avoided consequential accountability for its role in the fire through a series of ordinary business practices,” and called for greater corporate accountability laws in England and Wales to stop future misconduct from going “unpunished and undeterred.”

Bereaved and survivors’ group Grenfell United said the investigation revealed how “corporate structures and legal systems have allowed those responsible to move on while our community continues to live with the consequences.

“Grenfell was not just a tragedy — it was a preventable disaster. We hope these findings help drive the legal and political changes needed to ensure no company can evade responsibility in this way again.”

The Grenfell inquiry found Arconic to have “deliberately and dishonestly concealed from the market” the true danger of Renobond PE, the flammable aluminium composite material used for the tower.

Arconic has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and Met Police investigators have yet to bring charges against any companies or individuals linked to the blaze.

Investigators also found the cladding material used on the Grenfell tower accounted for less than 1 per cent of annual sales at the time, while they found no evidence that Arconic has attempted to trace the rest of Renobond PE it has sold.