Attorney General: Govt right not to use judge for Barclays scandal probe (From Bucks Free Press)
Send your news, photos and videos by texting bucksfreepress to 80360 or email
Beaconsfield MP and Attorney General Dominic Grieve: Govt right not to use judge for Barclays scandal probe
4:00pm Monday 9th July 2012 in Business News By James Nadal
Attorney General: Govt right not to use judge for Barclays scandal probe
THE Government's decision not to have a judge led public inquiry over the Barclays scandal is right, Attorney General Dominic Grieve insists.
There was a heated exchange in Parliament last week, in which the Beaconsfield MP was involved, over how to examine what went on at the bank.
The revelations about the Libor 'rate rigging' have rocked the financial world.
Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond quit in the wake of the scandal, which landed the company with a £290million fine from the Financial Services Authority.
Labour called for a inquiry to be led by a judge, just as the current one on the press and the media is being.
But the Government said it did not want another in the mould of the Leveson Inquiry, saying it would be too lengthy when it wants to pass laws as soon as possible to prevent a repeat.
Instead, a group of Parliamentarians will hold an inquiry, after the Coalition won a House of Commons vote.
Mr Grieve, the Government's top law advisor, told the BFP: “Parliamentary inquiries can be very effective and they will normally be effective if they have a good chairman and work on a bi-partisan basis.
“And also if the individual members don't try to just use it as an opportunity to make a political statement and grandstanding.”
He expressed faith in Chairman Andrew Tyrie.
Speaking at Flackwell Heath's Cherry Fayre, Mr Grieve said: “The problem with the alternative (judge led) is they are likely to be very long and drawn out. There are two issues with this.
“The first is there's also a criminal investigation.
“It really is important whatever inquiry takes place it doesn't interfere with the criminal investigation. “Actually, I think the Government has done it right in suggesting we should have a parliamentary inquiry and not going for a judicial inquiry which would have been much longer and is likely to cause potentially more problems.
“It can sometimes be worked through but a parliamentary inquiry, as long as it acts responsibly, is probably easier to manage than having a judge.”
Labour lost a Commons vote calling for a judicial probe and has agreed to cooperate with the Government's proposal.
However, it has said the parliamentary inquiry will not be broad enough and needed to look more deeply at issues with banking generally, rather than just Barclays and the Libor scandal.
A poll suggests Bucks Free Press readers backed the Labour plan, with 77 per cent (343 votes) saying there should be a judge led investigation.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (6)
5:29pm Mon 9 Jul 12
wayneo says...
No it wasn't, the only reason MPs don't want a Judge led enquiry, is thre are a number of MPs up to their necks in it.
11:10pm Mon 9 Jul 12
Voyeur says...
MPs have too much political baggage and huge demands on their time to be able to do the job properly.
I am afraid to say it but this issue needs a Royal Commission into it - with legal and finance members of the team in order to get to the bottom of this cesspit.
Euribor is one other issue that needs looking at as well. In addition it looks like there are a number of other "self certified" tools that are open to manipulation by those who are best placed to benefit from that.
1:08am Tue 10 Jul 12
J B Blackett says...
.
Another similar gang were made to look stupid and had rings round them by the evasive crafty unbelievable Bob Diamond last week.
8:13am Tue 10 Jul 12
Flackwell says...
Let's have an independent enquiry, and a separate police investigation
5:24pm Tue 10 Jul 12
DonRockell says...
When it come to the banks, MPs have to many vested interests to make an unbiased report and from the way Mr Grieve continual speaks up for the Bankers one would be inclined to think he to might have some interests in that direction as well. The judges on the other hand are really only going to look at the legal aspects so if the government, the tax man and the Bank of England cant or wont stand up to them what can a Judge do.
We really need a fully Independent look at the banks, their dealings, how they spend and squander our money and the way that deals are made with the Tax Man that most businesses would be shut down for even suggesting.
(just try it - Phone up the Tax man and say - Hey I don't want to pay my full amount of Tax this year, tell you what, if I take you out for a meal will you knock off a few grand and call it quits - I don't think your feet would touch the sides of the Police wagon as they take you away but Banks and several Big companies have been reported to make this type of deal on many occasions)
Our Bankers simply do seem to have made any attempts to curb their excess's, almost laugh at the concerns the public have and many in the industry are paid vast sums for doing very little and its about time someone started asking some very pointed questions and demanding proper answers backed up by the law and a government willing to act on the findings. The failure to do this would result in the UK becoming another Greece after all we have the same levels of Debt, a higher public expediter, more unemployed and a more top heavy government than Greece, plus a very large Monkey on our backs that nobody wants to deal with called the Banks and the City.
5:49pm Tue 10 Jul 12
washondo says...