RBS chiefs named in Enron court papers

[emad]

The Scotsman
Ex-treasurer says power plant deal was illegal

JIM STANTON
DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR


A NUMBER of senior executives at the Royal Bank of Scotland may end up facing criminal charges in America after a key prosecution witness in the Enron scandal said he thought a deal between the collapsed energy group and the Edinburgh-based bank was fraudulent.

The witness, former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan, has admitted a number of deals he was involved in during his time with the Texan company were illegal.

And he has told a court in Houston that he believed a deal, involving a series of transactions between RBS and Enron between 1999 and 2001 involving a power plant in Teesside was not above board. It has been alleged that a deal was hatched between RBS and Enron which saw RBS buy the plant temporarily with an agreement to sell it back a few months later, helping inflate the energy company’s profits.

It was the artificial boosting of profits and concealment of debt over a period of years through a complex series of off-balance sheet transactions that eventually led to the collapse of Enron in 2001.
More:
http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1479692004

[emad]

1. From today's Independent:

RBS executives could face charges in the Enron scandal
By Julia Kollewe, Banking Correspondent
31 December 2004

Snip:
A report by Neal Batson, an examiner appointed by the US Bankruptcy Court, claims that the people involved in the deal included Iain Robertson, currently chairman of corporate banking and financial markets (CBFM) and a board member of RBS; Johnny Cameron, chief executive of CBFM; Tom Hardy, head of project and export finance; and Iain Houston, director of structured finance at the British bank.

The fourth report by Mr Batson, who delved into the Enron collapse, America's worst financial scandal, singled out RBS along with Credit Suisse First Boston and the Toronto-Dominion Bank for condemnation. The report concluded that "RBS aided and abetted certain Enron officers in breaching their fiduciary duties."

The US government has drawn up a secret list of 114 unindicted co-conspirators in the collapse of Enron. A US judge ruled this month that the names of about half of the alleged co-conspirators could be made public, but it turned out that those names had already been released. It is not known if RBS executives are on the list, but the bank's role is being scrutinised by the US Department of Justice.

A spokeswoman for RBS said yesterday the bank was just one of 114 that are being investigated in the US. She said: "We continue to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities investigating Enron. As this is a very complicated matter, involving a large number of banks and legal actions, it would be wholly inappropriate for us to comment on any detailed matters. Enron was well known for using complex structured finance transactions and the accounting treatment of these was the responsibility of Enron and its auditors. We do not accept any responsibility for the actions of those parties and we will defend these proceedings vigorously."

More:
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=597012

[Dr.Phool]

2. Aren't these the same crooks

Who were going to go in on a banking partnership in America with Pat Robertson?

[Guy_Montag]

3. And the nice thing is...

they can now be extradited to the US with the minimum of legal formalities, like the US court providing any basic evidence of wrong doing.