On the 27 October 2009, the Chancellor, The treasury Select Committee and Mervyn King
received an unusual Dossier. 28 pages long with additional attachments, it was primarily prepared to assist the FSA with an investigation they have been doing for some time at the request of 11 MPs including Vince Cable and a Treasury Minister, at Debate in Westminster on June 2. The subject matter is fraud at HBOS between 2002 and 2007. The SA received their copy on 19 October.
The Dossier is the result of a two and a half year private investigation and the authors of the document and the many people who contributed evidence and information felt, in light of the
proposed Rights Issue by the Lloyds Banking Group, hat the Tripartite Authorities should be made aware of its contents. The FSA have taken it very seriously and the matter is with their 'enforcement team'. This means, as documented in their Handbook has already gone through their 'supervisory team' and they have concluded action must be taken Hector Sants, while maintaining the FSA's less than transparent position, has written personally t the authors. Neelie Kroes has taken the Dossier very seriously. It is registered with the EU Commission who is considering the future of our banks.
This document is not a series of complaints from disgruntled HBOS customers. It is a compilation of substantiated facts documenting serious and systemic fraud at HBOS. While that fraud may have been attributed primarily to its Reading Office, the evidence shows the fraud went right to the top and that someone, in the higher echelons, sanctioned a bizarre scenario whereby HBOS could siphon off its clients’ money and assets into a Company which was, until September 08, owned by The Bank. The Ex senior Directors and Board members and even its City lawyers have repeatedly denied in writing and even to the police, there was anything amiss at HBOS Reading. More recently, Eric Daniels and his team have perpetuated that myth. Meanwhile, the entire banking community is aware of what happened and is awaiting the outcome of the FSA investigation.
Maybe the Tripartite Authorities are hoping Hector ants will be a 'chum' and will not take action against HBOS on the grounds it could affect 'market confidence'. But that is a risky strategy faced with a Dossier containing evidence from lawyers, whistleblowers (including Paul Moore), accountants, Companies House and Administrators. It documents criminal acts which the FSA cannot ignore. The massive cover up surrounding this scandal already speaks volumes in itself and it has become more than apparent the Government are very keen to keep the lid on this story. The media, for the most part, have been very obliging.
But this HBOS scandal, which all went horribly wrong for them in 2007 and which has cost the Bank well over £500M from one Office alone, is not going away. What started out as an
investigation into irregularities at HBOS Reading as revealed a network of corruption across the entire Bank. It just keeps getting bigger as more evidence comes to light and the Dossier itself is just a small selection of the evidence available. T adds to Lloyd’s headache, the FSA s 'supervisory team' is also looking at the circumstances surrounding the HBOS Rights Issue in 2008. It is fair to say HBOS is going to cause Lloyds and its share price some further big problems very soon. Not an ideal scenario for investors.
But, in the meantime, it seems the powers that be are happy for more public money to be invested in the Titanic – even although they introduced it to the very iceberg that will sink it.
For more information contact Paul or Nikki Turner: 1223 897800 Paul@zenithcafe.co.u
