Lawyers mull Goodwin case over RBS accounting

GOVERNMENT LAWYERS are to decide whether former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Fred Goodwin has a criminal case to answer for over accounting irregularities.

The head of the Insolvency Service at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is set to give his opinion “within days”, according to the Telegraph.

In a Financial Services Authority report into the collapse of the bank, investigators said: “RBS appeared uncertain of its capital position at critical times.” They added: “So, at best, compliance was only established on a retrospective basis.” This is contrary to provisions in the Companies Act, which says directors must be able to “disclose [their company’s] financial position with reasonable accuracy at any time”.

According to BIS, penalties for poor accounting records are “punishable by a maximum penalty of two-to-ten years imprisonment and/or a fine”.

Prime minister David Cameron told the Commons yesterday: “We are considering sanctions in relation to what was done by people on the board of RBS.”