Greater than seven years after Dame Linda Dobbs was appointed to research whether or not Lloyds Banking Group lined up a £1 billion fraud scandal at HBOS, the victims of the scandal are nonetheless ready for solutions.
The evaluation, initially anticipated to take a matter of months, now dangers changing into one of many slowest official experiences in British historical past, with rising accusations that it could possibly be compounding the alleged cover-up.
Dame Linda Dobbs, a former Excessive Court docket choose, was tasked in April 2017 with analyzing Lloyds’ response to a fraud linked to the Studying department of HBOS, which the financial institution had acquired in 2009. The fraud concerned bankers and consultants exploiting reckless credit score insurance policies, resulting in the collapse of a number of small and medium-sized companies. Six folks had been jailed in 2017 for his or her roles within the rip-off, together with Lynden Scourfield, a banker at HBOS, and David Mills, the ringleader of Quayside Company Providers, a consultancy agency that exploited HBOS shoppers.
Regardless of Lloyds ultimately acknowledging that victims suffered because of Quayside’s actions, many victims, together with media character Noel Edmonds, worry that the drawn-out evaluation course of is defending these on the prime from accountability. Edmonds, whose firm Distinctive Group was a sufferer, has in contrast the Dobbs evaluation to the infamously prolonged Edinburgh Tram inquiry, which took almost 9 years and have become extra controversial than the difficulty it was set as much as examine.
Based on a senior banking supply, Lloyds and HBOS executives had been conscious of the problems on the Studying department as early as 2007 however selected to pursue money owed from affected companies relatively than addressing the fraud. “Instead of owning up and redressing the issue, they decided the best option was to further destroy businesses hoping that would get rid of the problem. It seems quite clear-cut to me,” the supply mentioned.
Paul and Nikki Turner, house owners of the music publishing enterprise Zenith, which was ruined by the fraud, expressed their disillusionment with the evaluation’s progress, accusing Lloyds of hoping the reality would by no means emerge. In correspondence with the evaluation’s counsel, Adam Wiseman KC, the Turners questioned whether or not they had misplaced their religion within the evaluation’s integrity. In response, Dobbs reassured them that her “no stone unturned” method remained the target, although the evaluation continues to be accepting new info as of this 12 months.
The Dobbs evaluation is investigating claims that Lloyds lined up the HBOS fraud, annoyed police investigations, and exacerbated the struggling of victims. The scope of the inquiry is in depth, involving oral and written proof from quite a few witnesses, and a evaluation of a whole bunch of hundreds of paperwork spanning almost 20 years. Nevertheless, as a non-statutory inquiry, Dobbs can not compel witnesses to take part, which has contributed to delays.
The evaluation’s progress has been sluggish, with advanced and time-consuming processes for dealing with confidential paperwork lined by authorized skilled privilege, in addition to difficulties coordinating witness availability. Though the drafting of the evaluation has begun, vital evaluation continues to be excellent, prompting calls from inside the trade for extra transparency. Some victims have advised that Dobbs ought to publish an interim abstract to offer readability on the evaluation’s findings to date.
Mark Brown, Common Secretary of BTU, the impartial commerce union for Lloyds employees, criticised the protracted nature of the inquiry and advised that Lloyds could be content material to see the investigation “kicked into the long grass.” He urged Dobbs to call these chargeable for delays and to carry Lloyds accountable for its function in prolonging the evaluation.
Lloyds has already incurred £1.3 billion in prices associated to the scandal, together with the prices of compensation schemes and the continued evaluation. The financial institution maintains that it’s cooperating totally with the inquiry and has apologised to clients affected by the fraud. A spokesman for Lloyds said, “Our intention has always been, and remains, to provide fair and generous compensation.” The financial institution has dedicated to offering a replica of the ultimate report back to the Treasury Choose Committee as soon as accomplished.
Dame Linda Dobbs stays adamant concerning the significance of an intensive investigation, stating, “Where serious allegations have been raised about the adequacy of past investigations, I owe it to those victims to conduct a comprehensive inquiry and reach robust conclusions. That means no short cuts.” Because the evaluation nears its closing phases, the victims and the general public proceed to await a full account of what went unsuitable and who ought to be held accountable.
