HBOS bankers face £35m 'kickback' charges

HBOS bankers face £35m 'kickback' charges




In one of the largest ever frauds since the financial crisis, two former senior Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) bankers appeared in court this week, facing corruption charges for their.

In one of the largest ever frauds since the financial crisis, two former senior Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) bankers appeared in court this week, facing corruption charges for their alleged involvement in a £35 million loan scam.

Mark Dobson, 52, and Lynden Scourfield, 50, were alleged to have paid ‘kick-backs’ to bank managers at a HBOS branch at Beauclerc House, Reading, in order to acquire lucrative business loan contracts to pass on to a group of external consultants, the Telegraph previously reported.

After a two-year investigation into the loan scam, the two men were charged with conspiracy to corrupt at Southwark Crown Court on Monday 28th January.

According to the reports two couples acting as consultants, David and Alison Mills and Michael and Beverley Bancroft, were also charged in connection with the fraud.

Lynden Scourfield’s wife and an “associate” of David Mills and Michael Bancroft, John Cartwright, will also appear in court.

All eight alleged participants in the fraud, released on bail, face varying degrees of corruption, money laundering and fraudulent trading charges.

According to a CPS statement, the wives of the men are alleged to have helped launder the money in the fraudulent transactions.

The reports stated that Mr Scourfield was in allegedly in receipt of “high-value gifts” from a turnaround consultancy founded by Mr Mills, who was a former Natwest Banker, called Quayside Corporate Services (QCS).

These gifts were allegedly offered to Mr Scourfield so that over a seven-year period he would use QCS to administer loans from HBOS to companies that were struggling financially.

The Telegraph reported that the true scale of the fraud could run into hundreds of millions or billions. 

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