Alistair Darling is to give Britain's financial watchdog new powers to clean up the City by adopting a US-style whistle-blower system that will grant immunity from prosecution in return for evidence about market manipulation, The Guardian reports.
Alarmed by the illegal raid that drove down the share price of HBOS last week, the chancellor will outline plans for new legislation over the next few months that will give the Financial Services Authority plea bargaining powers already granted to tax officials, the Serious Fraud Office and the director of public prosecutions. In an interview with the Guardian, Darling said: "I can't allow us to get into a situation where people quite deliberately manipulate markets for personal gain and with the potential to destabilise the financial system." He added: "We have a duty to ensure we have...
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