Corrupt Practices and “the system”

24 May 2023

An investigation by the BBC's economics correspondent Andy Verity has revealed that central banks including the UK's Bank of England, the Banque du France, the European Central Bank, Banca d'Italia, Banco de Espana and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York pressured banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to artificially adjust benchmark interest rates called Libor and Euribor, which track how much it costs banks to borrow money from each other. Nearly 40 traders and brokers were prosecuted by the US Department of Justice and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for rate rigging between 2015 and 2019, but despite the FBI and the UK financial regulator being aware of the state-led drive to "rig" rates they were never shown this evidence. This to me means we sent the wrong people to jail – but still time to arrest and prosecute those that did wrong and those that kept silent. Lives were ruined! Banks have been fined $8.8bn for rigging Libor and Euribor. Further suppressed evidence indicates that the UK Government was also involved in pressuring banks to "manipulate" Libor, Verity says. Andrew Tyrie, who chaired the UK Treasury Committee of MPs when it enquired into Libor in 2012, told the BBC that he believed “Parliament appears to have been misled and, if that's the case, should not let it rest." Senior Conservative MP David Davis said that in the light of the evidence he'd seen there was "a case to believe that state agencies coerced individuals into perjury that led to false convictions". This is rather worse than a speeding ticket and needs attention. The Bank of England called the claims “unsubstantiated” (so far … not even a denial) while the Financial Conduct Authority said it had met its disclosure obligations (the FCA is unaccountable and acts that way). Corruption in public life, let's GET these guys!