Former Barclays CEO ‘Held Back Evidence’

In a report issued Saturday regarding the manipulation of LIBOR, the UK Treasury Select Committee claimed that former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond ‘held back evidence‘ during Parliamentary hearings on LIBOR rate-fixing, and his testimony was ‘highly selective‘.
While we’d like to think the report increases the likelihood we’ll finally see the very first conviction of a bankster in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, we won’t hold our breaths. The report should however, bring the LIBOR scandal bank into mainstream attention.

Parliamentary committee claims Bob Diamond held back evidence during hearings on the Libor rate-rigging scandal.
British parliamentarians have accused former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond of holding back evidence during a hearing last month over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

In a report issued on Saturday regarding the manipulation of a key inter-bank interest rate, the cross-party Treasury Select Committee claimed that Diamond offered “highly selective” evidence when he was questioned over the Libor affair.

The committee also accused British regulators of showing serious shortcomings in their failure to stop Barclays manipulating the key Libor interest rate.

“The sustained rigging of a crucial benchmark rate has done great damage to the UK’s reputation. Public trust in banks is at an all-time low,” Andrew Tyrie, the committee’s chairman, said.

“Urgent improvements, both to the way banks are run, and the way they are regulated, is needed if public and market confidence is to be restored.”

These improvements included “higher fines for firms that fail to co-operate with regulators, the need to examine gaps in the criminal law, and a much stronger governance framework at the Bank of England,” Tyrie added.

The report concluded that “there was something deeply wrong with the culture of Barclays.

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