Claims of murky corporate manoeuvring at bankrupt courier City Link grew yesterday as its owners were accused of asset-stripping and cash grabs while thousands lose their jobs.

Business Secretary Vince Cable faced union calls for a “forensic investigation” into the collapse of the company, whose tax-dodging parent Better Capital (BC) stunned workers by announcing they were out of a job on Christmas Day.

Taxpayers are now likely to foot the redundancy bill for up to 2,700 former staff who face P45s by New Year’s Day.

Hundreds more “owner-drivers” subcontracted to operate branded vans will receive no compensation at all.

Yet corporate records show that three City Link directors lodged papers at Companies House earlier this month for a firm named “City Link B2b.”

The Coventry address listed is the site of the courier firm’s current HQ, with all three of its directors listed as senior members of the current management team.

Among them are City Link CEO David Smith and Better Capital executive Thomas Wright.

An RMT spokesman said revelations that a new company had been set up by current directors was “fuelling concerns about what was going on behind the scenes,” suggesting that the trio could be set to buy back “what’s left from administrators at a knock-down price.”

Questions also mounted over the conduct of Guernsey-based venture capital firm BC, which took over the company for £1 last year and promised a £40 million cash injection before walking away on December 22.

“We want a full, forensic investigation into events leading up to the collapse,” the RMT spokesman said.

“It’s a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with business in Britain — it shows how little protection workers have got against this kind of malicious manoeuvring.”

Meanwhile multimillionaire BC founder and Tory donor Jon Moulton, whose outfit specialises in taking over “distressed” companies with the aim of turning a profit, denied that it had stripped assets, claiming: “We have lost a lot of money.”

But unlike City Link employees facing the dole he has “more than his fair share of escape options,” according to one corporate magazine profile, with properties in Kent, Belgravia, France and Guernsey.

And he snapped up another £3.8 million of BC shares earlier this month.

Mr Cable said he would “happily” meet trade unionists in the new year, but Mr Cash said this would be “too late.”

“We want to put a plan together for a government-backed rescue that protects the business and the jobs it supports,” said the RMT leader.

An online campaign to demand City Link’s nationalisation was gaining momentum yesterday, with thousands signing up overnight.

But administrators are already drawing up plans to dispose of the firm’s assets.

Some workers would be kept on temporarily to “help return parcels to customers” and wind down its operations, they said.