British banker could face death penalty for suspected fraud

British banker could face death penalty for suspected fraud




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When the Government rescued Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group in 2008, bankers were undoubtedly given a rough ride – politicians pointing fingers, punitive taxes, protests, bonus capping, Sir Fred Goodwin’s house being targeted by vandals, etc. – but no one suggested the death penalty.   However, the situation is very different in Indonesia, where British banker, Rafat Ali Rizvi, is potentially facing a death sentence after the bank where he was a shareholder had to be taken over by the state.   Bank Century, one of Indonesia’s leading banks, was amongst the global institutions that collapsed in tumultuous autumn of 2008, and was controversially propped up with £430 million of taxpayers’ money.   Whereas in the UK, the chief executives of the bailed-out banks were all made to appear in front of a Treasury Select Committee and say sorry an excessive number of times in each sheepish sentence, the shareholders of Bank Century are currently being chased by Interpol on charges of corruption and fraud.   Mr Rizvi, along with two other main shareholders, has been accused of “looting” the bank after it was bailed out, according to a report in the Telegraph newspaper.   One of the shareholders, local entrepreneur Robert Tantular, has already been imprisoned for five years for not honouring a letter of agreement, but the government is still after Mr Rizvi and the third shareholder, Saudi national Hesham al Warraq.   Indonesia’s Attorney General Office has stated that the pair are suspected of stashing $1.4 billion of distressed debt securities in various accounts around the world. Although Mr Rizvi and Mr Warraq aren’t denying that there was a fraud at Bank Century, they are allegedly blaming Mr Tantular for it.   The multi millionaire banker is currently avoiding arrest by splitting his time between properties in Singapore and London’s Park Lane.   He has claimed that he is the victim of “a xenophobic campaign to put the blame for the collapse onto the bank's foreign owners”; with his lawyers saying that he fears becoming embroiled in a highly politicised trial, which could end in a death sentence.

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