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MPs today attacked the BBC as "disgraceful" for refusing to reveal the pay deals of its top presenters.
The Commons public accounts committee revealed that unnecessarily high salaries meant that BBC radio shows were up to six times more expensive to produce than those of its commercial rivals.
It will also criticise bosses at the corporation for trying to prevent the National Audit Office revealing the salaries of household name presenters such as Sir Terry Wogan, Chris Moyles and Jonathan Ross.
The spending watchdog's report found that the BBC spent £462million in 2007-2008 - 14 per cent of its licence fee income - on 16 radio stations.
It follows the news this week that the £6million salary of Ross, who was suspended last year over the Andrew Sachs scandal, was to be halved and that his chat show is under pressure from Graham Norton.
Tory MP Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said: "Few will find acceptable such constraints on the NAO's ability to investigate how a publicly funded national institution spends our money. It is disgraceful the NAO's lack of statutory audit access to the BBC puts the corporation in the position to dictate what it can and cannot see." Documents leaked three years ago showed that Sir Terry Wogan was paid £800,000 a year, Chris Evans £540,000, Chris Moyles £630,000 and Sara Cox £200,000.
Radio 2 host Ross, who also presents a film review slot and his Friday night chat show, was paid £530,000 a year for his radio work. MPs found Wake Up To Wogan on Radio 2 and Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show cost more to produce per hour than six other breakfast programmes by commercial broadcasters. The report found that the BBC's breakfast and drive-time shows account for more than three-quarters of staffing costs. Mr Leigh added: "All of this places a big question mark over whether the BBC is achieving value for the licence payer."
The report adds: "The BBC has prevented full public scrutiny by agreeing confidentiality clauses with some presenters."
