Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said Lloyds staff involved in an astonishing scam to defraud taxpayers could be guilty of ‘criminal conduct’.
Lloyds was yesterday discovered to have ripped off the Treasury at the height of the financial crisis by lying about its creditworthiness.
This allowed the state-backed bank to gain access to tens of billions from a Government ‘lifeline’ scheme at favourable rates – but left taxpayers out of pocket.
Between April 2008 and September 2009, four traders cut £7.8million off the fees Lloyds paid to the Treasury by manipulating the ‘repo rate’ which set the level of the fee.
Yesterday – as Lloyds was fined £218million and a senior MP said the public did not understand why rogue bankers had not been jailed – details of a letter sent by Mr Carney to the Lloyds chairman revealed the governor’s fury.
He wrote: ‘Such manipulation is highly reprehensible, clearly unlawful and may amount to criminal conduct on the part of the individuals involved.’
He added that ‘in view of the seriousness of this matter’, the Bank will consider pursuing further action against Lloyds and the individuals involved. Lloyds also faces a possible investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Read on and comment » | James Salmon | Tuesday, July 29, 2014
