A letter from FSA chief executive John Tiner to Liberal Democrat Treasury Select Committee member Norman Lamb suggests the regulator dropped its criminal investigation into the split capital investment trust sector many months before its Christmas Eve deal with providers.
The Times says the letter came in response to an inquiry by Lamb into why the FSA seemed to change tack between last summer, when its chairman Callum McCarthy made statements suggesting criminal collusion in the sector, to the deal that saw some £194m pledged in compensation, but nobody actually facing regulatory discipline. Tiner’s letter refers to lack of evidence and the need to make any prosecution in the public interest as reasons why the regulator changed its mind. However, The Times quotes a “senior FSA official” stating that dropping the criminal investigation was a necessary ...
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