Judge slams SFO incompetence in Tchenguiz case April 4, 2012 THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was yesterday denied more time to prepare for a trial over its handling of the 2011 arrests of real estate investors Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz. The high court judge, who ruled the trial should go ahead on 22 May as planned, criticised the SFO for its confession that it did [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES THREAT TO UK ACCESS TO VENTURE CAPITAL European rules on state aid have jeopardised small UK companies’ access to venture capital funding worth hundreds of millions of pounds each year, placing further strain on a sector already starved of credit. Under a measure included in the Finance Bill, venture capital trusts that invest [...]
JP Morgan pays Dimon $23.1m April 4, 2012 JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon received $23.1m (£14.5m) in compensation in 2011, an 11 per cent increase in a year when the bank’s shares have lost 22 per cent. Dimon, 56, was paid a bonus of $4.5m and given $17m in stock and options on top of $1.4m in salary, according to a [...]
Acas fuel strike talks begin April 4, 2012 Fuel tanker firms and union bosses started talks with mediation body Acas yesterday, with hopes growing that fuel drivers will scrap potentially disruptive strike action. The Unite union, which has already ruled out industrial action over the Easter weekend, is taking part in ongoing talks at an undisclosed location, Acas confirmed last night. More than [...]
Tax changes hit average families April 4, 2012 The average family will be £511 worse off in the new financial year thanks to various tax credit and benefit changes, according to figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies. The research claims that any gains from raising the income tax threshold for low to middle income families are wiped out by other changes. Labour [...]
Boris outlines growth ideas in economic plan April 4, 2012 BORIS Johnson yesterday pledged to create more than 200,000 jobs in the capital as he unveiled his economic manifesto ahead of next month’s election. Calling London “the economic engine room of the nation”, the current mayor said he would invest £221m in transforming high streets and supporting small businesses, and would launch a new London [...]
Alex Hope goes to ground after City A.M. reveals his FSA arrest April 4, 2012 ALEX Hope, the 23-year-old foreign exchange trader who was arrested on Tuesday by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has gone to ground after City A.M. broke the news of his arrest. Hope first came to prominence after spending £125,000 on a single bottle of champagne as part of a £200,000 bar bill in a Liverpool [...]
Network Rail is fined £4m for fatal train crash April 4, 2012 NETWORK Rail has been fined £4m for “preventable” safety failings that led to a fatal train crash in Cumbria in 2007. The publicly-funded owner of Britain’s railways was sentenced at Preston Crown Court yesterday for a breach of health and safety law that caused a Virgin Pendolino to come off the tracks on the West [...]
Ex-chief of JJB charged amid £1m fraud case April 4, 2012 THE former chief executive of JJB Sports, Chris Ronnie, has been charged after a two and a half year probe into an alleged £1m fraud. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday announced that Ronnie has been charged with three fraud offences, two counts of money laundering and two counts of furnishing false information, in relation to contracts [...]
…As firm gets up to £65m in fresh funding April 4, 2012 STRUGGLING sports retailer JJB last night revealed it had secured up to £65m worth of fresh investment as it battles to safeguard its future. The company, which saw its share price almost double earlier this week when it confirmed talks with a strategic partner, said that US sports chain Dicks would be investing £20m in [...]
