HIGH-street bookseller Waterstones is being accused of paying its staff “poverty wages” while sending millions of pounds overseas to its new owners, US hedge fund Elliot Advisors.

An investigation by research group Corporate Watch has found that Elliot Advisors “has set up an offshore financing scheme that could see it make £17 million a year from the bookseller.”

The investigators also claim that Waterstones’ highest paid director takes home “100 times more than staff on the minimum wage.”

Corporate Watch said: “Waterstones sums up capitalism in Britain today: billionaire owners and millionaire executives living off a workforce on poverty wages.”

Their research comes as Waterstones workforces are demanding the living wage, which the company claims it cannot afford.

Waterstones employs over 3,000 booksellers across over 280 bookshops.

Corporate Watch says that Elliott Advisors is a “notorious ‘vulture fund’ run by Paul Singer, a US billionaire and major conservative donor who has funded Donald Trump and George W Bush.”

The seasoned investigators at Corporate Watch have combed Waterstones’ latest accounts, which they say show the company paid its staff £56m last year.

Corporate Watch calculates that paying the living wage may cost Waterstones up to £7m a year extra.

“Waterstones made £16m profit after tax in 2018, down from £18m in 2017,” Corporate Watch said. “Take that £7m off, and those profit figures remain healthy at £9m and £11m respectively.”

A spokesperson from Waterstones told Corporate Watch that: “We pay our booksellers as much as it is prudent to do, with a particular commitment to a progressive pay scale.

“The retail high street is under extreme pressure, with many highly respected companies closing, and many more in dire straits.

“Having come close to bankruptcy ourselves, we understand acutely the need for proper prudence.

“We are fortunate now to be able to invest sensibly in new shops, in refurbishments, in logistics and, above all, in our booksellers.

“In doing this, we are building a solid business for the future, perhaps not with as fast progress on pay as you wish but – in today’s world – the tortoise is likely to beat the hare.”

Read the full investigation at CorporateWatch.org.