King blasts bankers over pay, service – and morality , The Independent
30 June 2012
The Governor of the Bank of England yesterday launched a stinging attack on
the culture of the industry he oversees, condemning bankers for high pay,
immoral practices and providing shoddy service to customers. Sir Mervyn King stopped short of calling for a Leveson-style inquiry into
past practices at Britain's banks but said there needed to be a "real change in culture" as a consequence of successive scandals.
Apple staff in China work in 'deplorable' conditions , The Independent
29 June 2012
Factory workers making Apple's gadgets lead worse lives than those at the
militaristic Foxconn facility which was hit by a spate of worker suicides two
years ago, according o a report published yesterday. An investigation by China Labor Watch found that workers assembling the iPad
and other best-selling products experienced "deplorable" conditions including a
basic 11-hour day, excessive overtime, low wages, overcrowded and dirty
dormitories and hazardous working conditions. Other problems comprised
inadequate trade unions, excessive use of agency labour, poor food and routine
cheating of overtime pay.
Nomura admits mistakes on insider trading , The FT
29 June 2012
Nomura admitted that lax
internal controls and an excessive pursuit of profits were factors which led to
insider information leaking from staff and said it would cut the pay of its top
executives by 50 per cent for several months, fire those responsible and
suspend certain businesses temporarily.
Ex Barclays executive warns Libor system still not fixed four years after warning, The Telegraph
29 June 2012
Tim Bond, who was chief strategist at Barclays, spoke out about the problems with Libor four years ago when he described the system as a "lie” in an interview with Bloomberg. Mr Bond, who now works for an asset manager, said the reaction had so far been to "search and destroy and punish without fixing the market”.
BP pays $5.4M to settle gender bias claims, The Miami Herald
29 June 2012
Oil giant BP is paying $5.4 million to settle claims that some of its contractors refused to hire women to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/29/2874248/bp-pays-54m-to-settle-gender-bias.html#storylink=cpy
Big Four banks admit to mis-selling interest rate swaps, The Telegraph
29 June 2012
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS have admitted to mis-selling interest rate hedges to small and medium sized business customers and agreed to compensate them as well as stop selling the most complex products.
UTC agrees fine over China military exports, The FT
28 June 2012
One of the US’s largest defence contractors, United Technologies, has pleaded guilty to knowingly supplying technology for China’s first modern military attack helicopters, in a serious breach of US controls on arms export to the country. Pratt & Whitney Canada, a UTC subsidiary, and Hamilton Sundstrand, a US subsidiary, agreed at the court hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to pay up to $75m in fines for the offences, which the Department of Justice said began as early as 2000.
Libor affair shows banking’s big conceit, The FT
28 June 2012
Sometimes in life it feels sweet to say "I told you so”. This week is one such moment. Five long years ago, I first started trying to expose the darker underbelly of the Libor market, together with Financial Times colleagues such as Michael Mackenzie. At the time, this sparked furious criticism from the British Bankers’ Association, as well as big banks such as Barclays; the word "scaremongering” was used. But now we know that, amid the blustering from the BBA, the reality was worse than we thought. As emails released by the UK Financial Services Authority show, some Barclays traders were engaged in a constant and pervasive attempt to rig the Libor market from 2006 on, with the encouragement of more senior managers. And the British bank may not have been alone.
Barclays to review Libor staff conduct, The FT
28 June 2012
Bob Diamond, Barclays’ chief executive, has said the bank would "rigorously” review the conduct of all those involved in the attempts to manipulate a benchmark interest rate. In a letter to Andrew Tyrie, the Treasury select committee’s chairman, on Thursday, the chief executive said the bank would consider "all appropriate options” including clawing back bonuses, withholding remuneration or firing for those "who have a case to answer”.
Barclays fined £290m as bid to manipulate interest rates is exposed, The Guardian
28 June 2012
The boss of Barclays, Bob Diamond, is under mounting pressure after the bank was hit with fines of £290m for its "serious, widespread" role in trying to manipulate the price of crucial interest rates that affect the cost of borrowing for millions of customers around the world. There were calls for Diamond to step down after the Financial Services Authority slapped a £59.5m fine on the bank – the largest ever levied by the City regulator - forcing him and other top executives to forgo any bonuses for 2012.
NZ: GPG’s Coats stuck with $200 million fine, National Business Review
28 June 2012
Guinness Peat Group subsidiary Coats Group has lost its appeal against a €110 million fine for price fixing more than a decade ago. Coats – now 100% owned by GPG – must pay the fine plus accrued interest, which amounts to €28 million.
Barclays rate rigging crisis shows 'corruption at heart of banking', Which? says, The Telegraph
28 June 2012
The group called on the Government to reform the banking industry as a matter of urgency. Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, said that if it can be proved that borrowers lost money because they paid artificially high interest rates on loans or mortgages then they should be compensated.
NZ: Fraud pharmacist faces suspension
28 June 2012
An Auckland pharmacist, who was last year convicted of fraudulently claiming prescription subsidies of almost $70,000 could be suspended from practising. Wayne Baker was co-owner of Sandringham Village Pharmacy when he pleaded guilty to 93 fraud charges for claiming prescription subsidies worth $69,070.59 from the Auckland District Health Board. The offending was carried out between June 2006 and June 2009.
A click away from breaking the law, The FT
28 June 2012
For employers, the temptation to check up on a candidate on their social networking websites is often too hard to resist – even if the information might prove misleading, or worse, give grounds for a discrimination claim.The use by headhunters, recruitment agencies and human resources departments of websites such as LinkedIn has become ubiquitous and, some say, invaluable in allowing them to view details of a candidate’s professional background, experience and contacts.
FalconStor to pay $5.8 mln to settle bribe charges, Reuters
27 June 2012
FalconStor Software Inc will pay $5.8 million to resolve criminal and civil
charges that it bribed JP Morgan Chase Bank NA executives to obtain $12 million
in software contracts, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. According to a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, FalconStor
offered more than $300,000 in restricted FalconStor shares, stock options,
gambling vouchers, gift cards and golf perks to JP Morgan executives in
Columbus, Ohio, in exchange for $12.2 million in software contracts.
UN tribunal finds ethics office failed to protect whistleblower, The Guardian
27 June 2012
A landmark case brought by a former United Nations employee against the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has cast light on what activists describe as a pervasive culture of impunity in an organisation where whistleblowers are given minimal protection from reprisals. James Wasserstrom, a veteran American diplomat, was sacked and then detained by UN police, who ransacked his flat, searched his car and put his picture on a wanted poster after he raised suspicions in 2007 about corruption in the senior ranks of the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik).
SEC files charges against Harbinger chief, The FT
27 June 2012
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against Philip Falcone and his hedge fund group Harbinger Capital Partners, alleging that he used customer funds to pay his taxes, manipulated markets and gave favourable treatment to certain clients. A civil claim has also been brought against Peter Jenson, Harbinger’s former chief operating officer, for allegedly aiding Mr Falcone.
Knowingly underpaid? John Lewis hit by cleaners' protest, The Independent
27 June 2012
It is hailed as a socially responsible employer whose workers all have a
stake in the company, and for many John Lewis is a paragon of ethical business.
But for those who clean the floors, stairwells and toilets of the venerable
department store, there is no share of the spoils. Cleaners at the company's flagship store on London's Oxford Street are
protesting against low pay, redundancies and cuts to hours, claiming they are
being treated as "second-class citizens".
RBS cancels Wimbledon corporate hospitality, The Telegraph
27 June 2012
Royal Bank of Scotland has cancelled its corporate hospitality at Wimbledon in the wake of the IT meltdown which left thousands of customers without access to cash. The bank, which says it is finally getting on top of the crisis, said it would be "inappropriate" to continue providing the hospitality.
EU court upholds Microsoft antitrust fine, The FT
27 June 2012
Microsoft suffered another defeat at the hands of the European Commission, after failing to overturn a hefty fine in a court battle that is likely to draw the curtain on an antitrust feud lasting more than a decade. While the EU’s second-highest court on Wednesday shaved 4 per cent from Microsoft’s €899m fine to €860, it threw out the US technology group’s main arguments to annul the first Brussels penalty levied on a company for non-compliance.
SEC targets Falcone over fund loan, The FT
27 June 2012
The head of hedge fund
Harbinger Capital Partners could be charged this week over allegations he
improperly used customer funds to pay his taxes.
FTC sues Wyndham over cyber breaches, The FT
27 June 2012
Agency alleges poor data
security at the hotel chain led to three security failures and more than $10m
in fraudulent credit card transactions.
Barclays to settle Libor probe, The FT
27 June 2012
Barclays is poised to
announce a deal with US and UK regulators to settle a probe into allegations
that its employees sought to manipulate the London interbank lending rate that
is the basis of more than $350tn ongoing contracts worldwide. The settlement, which may be announced as soon as today, would cover both the
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the UK Financial Services
Authority, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Insight chief charged with insider trading, The FT
26 June 2012
The president of Insight Research, a privately held investment research company, has been arrested and charged with insider trading as part of the US government’s investigation into illegal trading by the Galleon Group hedge fund. Tai Nguyen surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office on Tuesday morning, according to an FBI spokesman, and later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Vodafone faces tax payment row, The Guardian
26 June 2012
Vodafone Group is facing a fresh tax furore after research claimed the company has saved nearly £1bn on payments to the public purse for its UK business over the last decade. According to calculations by Reuters, careful planning has helped Vodafone, whose head of tax is former HMRC high flyer John Connors, to make savings worth £961m in the form of reduced taxes and tax credits that could be offset against future profits. Vodafone paid zero corporation tax in the UK this year, despite handing more than £2.3bn to other countries around the world.
Allegations of Chesapeake collusion probed, The FT
26 June 2012
Emails between Encana and
Chesapeake executives suggest they discussed forming a joint venture to bid for
leases jointly and later co-ordinated which leases to bid for.
FDA accuses Amylin of withholding info, The FT
26 June 2012
A top US regulator has accused Amylin, the biotech company, of withholding important information on cardiac side effects of its drugs, casting a shadow over competitive bidding for the business by several large pharmaceutical groups. In a document written in January and recently released publicly, Mary Parks, division director of the Food and Drug Administration responsible for diabetes medicines, highlighted delays before Amylin revealed the findings of patient tests relevant both to Byetta, known generically as exenatide, and its long-acting version, Bydureon.
Laptop checked for espionage, The Times
26 June 2012
Barclays is examining the laptop computer used by a Baker Tilly employee
seconded to the bank, who is suspected of corporate espionage.
The bank is carrying out a detailed analysis of e-mails and other information
downloaded on to the computer as it seeks to find out what, if any,
confidential information was passed back to the accounting firm.
Penitent comedian offers lesson to bankers, The FT
25 June 2012
Bob Diamond has something to learn from Jimmy Carr. The Barclays chief executive has been in dyspeptic mood of late. The Treasury has accused his bank of operating "highly abusive” tax avoidance schemes. Ministers have taken the rare step of outlawing the transactions retrospectively to reinstate a £500m tax liability. Mr Diamond’s complaint is that the Treasury has overturned the tradition of taxpayer confidentiality by identifying Barclays. There had been no attempt to break the law. Others had got away with similar transactions. As a result, the bank had suffered reputational damage. This was especially galling because it had just started marketing itself as a good corporate citizen.
M Stanley ‘rainmaker’ on leave amid probe, The FT
25 June 2012
One of Morgan Stanley’s top bankers in Europe has gone on leave amid scrutiny of his role when a German energy group was renationalised in a €4.7bn deal. The decision by Dirk Notheis, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive in Germany, comes as the US investment bank’s role is questioned during a parliamentary inquiry in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
Companies Show Little Concern about UK Bribery Act Enforcement, WSJ
25 June 2012
Less than one-tenth of respondents to a new Deloitte LLP web survey said
they’re concerned about the possibility of a U.K. Bribery Act enforcement action
being brought against their company. Out of the more than 1,200 people who responded to the question about concern
over a U.K. enforcement action, 57% said they’re not worried and one-third said
they didn’t know. The survey of almost 2,000 people, conducted in May following
a webcast by Deloitte, comes as the U.K. Bribery Act nears its one-year
anniversary of implementation.
Bank chiefs enjoy double-digit pay rises, The FT
24 June 2012
Top US and European
bankers, including JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit,
have enjoyed double-digit annual pay rises averaging almost 12 per cent,
despite widespread falls in profits and share prices, Financial Times research
shows. The disclosure will stoke concern on both sides of the Atlantic over
chief executive pay levels that has already led to several high-profile
investor revolts, including at Citi and at Barclays. It comes as Europe’s
leaders debate a cap on bank bonuses.
Danny Alexander describes aggressive tax avoidance as 'morally repugnant', The Guardian
24 June 2012
Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has waded into the row about tax avoidance, claiming an ordinary person's tax bill could be reduced by 2p in the pound if avoidance, or the tax gap, could be reduced by a quarter. He refused to follow David Cameron in condemning the comedian Jimmy Carr's specific tax plans but said all aggressive tax avoidance schemes were "morally repugnant".
Undertaker filmed by C4's Dispatches storing bodies like 'stacking TV sets', The Guardian
24 June 2012
The UK's biggest funeral company has begun an inquiry after staff were secretly filmed storing dead bodies like "stacking television sets" in a warehouse on an industrial estate off a busy motorway. Co-operative Funeralcare, which organises more than 100,000 funerals a year from 900 funeral homes, said it was shocked and disappointed by information provided to it by undercover journalists, "which goes against everything we stand for".
Bleasdale fails in £12m unfair dismissal tribunal, The Times
23 June 2012
Kate Bleasdale, the former head of Healthcare Locums, has lost her £12 million
unfair dismissal case against the medical recruitment group she founded. The
former nurse was dismissed last year after the company found "accounting
irregularities”. She launched legal proceedings against the business for
unfair dismissal, victimisation and sex discrimination.
Pay storm threatens Xstrata merger, The FT
22 June 2012
UK shareholder body’s
criticism of £217m retention package for miner’s senior management threatens
planned merger with commodities trader Glencore.
Telstra Pulls VTech Phones After Alleged ‘Sweatshop’ Factory Conditions Exposed, Gizmodo
22 June 2012
Telstra is reportedly pulling its VTech fixed phones off the shelves today after a report into the factory where the devices are made revealed allegedly appalling working conditions. The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights described the factory, situated in China’s Guandong Province, as a "brutal sweatshop” yesterday according to the Australia Network.
Google accused of withholding evidence from Texas antitrust probe, The Guardian
22 June 2012
The Texas attorney general is accusing Google of improperly withholding evidence to stymie an investigation into whether the company has been abusing its dominance of web search. The allegations surfaced in a court filing earlier this week as part of Texas' probe into Google's business practices, now in its second year.
Stars face big bill as tax plan backfires, The FT
22 June 2012
Wealthy investors including
Sir Alex Ferguson, Sven-Göran Eriksson and a host of sports stars and City
figures could be liable for huge individual tax bills after an attempt to
reduce their liabilities backfired. The 289 investors in Eclipse 35, a film partnership ruled to be an "aggressive”
tax avoidance scheme by a tax tribunal in April, could end up paying several
times more than the total of £117m tax they sought to avoid as the Revenue
& Customs examines the large bank loans they took on to participate in the
scheme.
Ireland fines UBS for lack of controls, The FT
21 June 2012
UBS’s international life assurance arm has been hit with Ireland’s first ever fine for failing to comply with a 2010 law aimed at preventing financial companies from being used to launder money and finance terrorism. The €65,000 penalty handed out to the Swiss bank’s unit is part of Ireland’s broader effort to strengthen oversight of the banking sector after the financial collapse that forced the country to seek a €67.5bn bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund.
Farepak: lender HBOS 'made firm collect cash as it was close to going bust', The Guardian
21 June 2012
The Farepak debacle could have been lifted straight from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel. For a year, 116,400 of the country's poorest families had been putting aside a little bit of cash, saving up for Christmas. Unbeknown to them, Farepak, the savings club they were squirrelling their cash into, was in serious trouble. The company had run out of money to buy the vouchers customers had paid for and faced collapse unless it could get some emergency funding.
Evergrande accused of fraud and bribery, The FT
21 June 2012
Shares in Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, tumbled on Thursday after a US shortseller accused the company of fraud, bribery, and reckless spending on football teams. Los Angeles-based Citron Research alleged in a 57-page report on its website that Evergrande has "abused the capital markets” and "represents the worst of Chinese neo-capitalism”.
Australian telecommunications company Telstra urged to probe Chinese sweatshop claims, Australia Network News
21 June 2012
A US-based labour rights group is urging executives from the Australian telecommunications company Telstra to travel to China and confront its phone supplier over working conditions. The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights has released a report describing what it calls "brutal sweatshop" conditions in VTech factories in China's Guangdong Province
Cable finally cracks down on fat cats – but critics say they'll still get the cream , The Independent
21 June 2012
Big companies will be forced to face a legally binding vote every three years by
shareholders on the salary packages given to senior executives under moves
announced yesterday by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary. But he faced
accusations of backtracking over previous promises to offer an annual vote and
of not giving shareholders enough power to veto lavish pay deals.
Apple fined $2.25m in Australia for misleading iPad 4G advertising, The Guardian
21 June 2012
An Australian judge has fined Apple A$2.25m for misleading customers that its latest iPad is compatible with 4G broadband internet. Justice Mordy Bromberg of the federal court ruled Apple misled the public for two months of 2012 with claims in its advertising wrongly implying that the "iPad with WiFi + 4G," could connect directly to the mobile data network operated in Australia by Telstra.
Banker admits taking F1 sale bribe, The FT
20 June 2012
A German banker has for the first time told a court he accepted "bribes” from Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief executive, when the motor sport was sold to a private equity group. Gerhard Gribkowsky admitted receiving $44m in payments after a judge in Munich said he faced up to nine years in prison at the end of his trial on charges of corruption, breach of trust and tax evasion.
Blue Index head jailed for insider trading, The FT
20 June 2012
A wealthy broker and his wife who netted £1.5m through insider dealing have been jailed. The four-year jail term for James Sanders, who ran Blue Index, a specialist contract for difference brokerage, is the longest handed out in recent years for insider trading, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
Rio+20: Principles for Sustainable Insurance, ArcelorMittal, DuPont, Airbus and Boeing, Environmental Leader
20 June 2012
The UN Global Compact’s Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum wrapped up with several more commitments including pledges from about 30 global insurance companies, worth more than $5 trillion in total assets, to join a UN-backed process to promote a set of Principles for Sustainable Insurance. Supporters, which include ING, Munich Re and the International Insurance Society, say they’ll consider environmental, social and governance issues in decision-making, work with clients to raise awareness of ESG issues, and work with governments and regulators to promote action on these topics. Signatory companies will also publicly disclose their progress in implementing the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, on an annual basis.
City Diary: Homeserve boss's 'living expenses' do little to repair damage, The Telegraph
20 June 2012
Although Richard Harpin, global boss of the home repairs company, waived his 2011 bonus he still pocketed almost £6m last year. But it’s not just Homeserve’s multi-million pound rewards that are worthy of a raised eyebrow. Jonathan King, the UK chief executive who relocated from the US business in 2010, has been paid £44,000 a year in "living expenses”, on top of a £246,000 relocation package. That’s expensive living.
NZ: Hanover probe the biggest - SFO
20 June 2012
The long-running Hanover Finance investigation is dwarfing all previous finance company probes, says Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley. "It is without precedence in size in New Zealand...it is bigger than South Canterbury Finance, bigger than Equiticorp, bigger than any of the finance companies that we've looked at," Mr Feeley told Fairfax today after appearing before Parliament's law and order select committee.
NZ: Agent accused of fraudulent deals
20 June 2012
An Auckland real estate agent used his own mother as a middleman in his allegedly fraudulent real estate dealings, the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal has heard. Those dealings, which allegedly involved selling a property twice and pocketing the difference, were described by the Real Estate Agents Authority lawyer Luke Clancy, outside the court, as its most serious case to date. Rajneel Raj, who was dumped as co-owner of Kiwi Best Realty (trading as Remax Best), in Henderson when the investigations came to light, failed to show for today's hearing.
NZ: Casino backs down over Bible
20 June 2012
Tuni Parata, the SkyCity Casino worker under fire for carrying a pocket Bible at work, has been told she can keep the book in her pocket and will not face disciplinary action. Parata met SkyCity executives at the Auckland offices of the Unite union this afternoon, and it was decided an exception would be made to the company's uniform policy to allow her to carry a Bible with her as she worked.
NZ: Casino worker 'sorry' over Bible
19 June 2012
Tears well in Tuni Parata's red eyes and her voice cracks as she reaches forward to pat her Bible and says she never meant to offend anyone by carrying it. The 65-year-old devout Christian loves her job. She works as a tower host at SkyCity and wants to stay despite facing a disciplinary hearing and a possible final written warning for carrying the Bible in her pocket - a breach of the casino's uniform policy.
Executive pay battles damaging, says IMA, The FT
19 June 2012
A leading investment group has warned that battles over executive pay between shareholders and company boards risk damaging UK plc. The Investment Management Association said having executives locked in combat with investors at every round of annual meetings "would not be healthy” for the economy.
Corporate chiefs at G20 summit urge greater ethics, Business Spectator
19 June 2012
Corporate chiefs says there's much to learn from the global
financial crisis and the Arab Spring when it comes to ethics and social
responsibility in business.
The issue was the focus of a B20 forum in Los Cabos, Mexico,
on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders' summit.
Unilever chief executive officer Paul Polman said the global
financial crisis was really a "crisis of ethics".
Sacked and scorned: the man who failed to stop rogue trader, The Times
18 June 2012
The manager of the rogue trader who lost €4.9 billion told a court that he had
been dismissed, blackballed by other employers and scorned by his own
children because of his link to France’s greatest modern financial scandal.
Eric Cordelle said yesterday that he had become a pariah in Paris as the
result of his failure to stop Jérôme Kerviel, then a junior trader, from
bringing Société Générale to its knees.
News Corp changes reporting structure, The FT
18 June 2012
News Corp has announced a shift in the reporting structure of its management and standards committee, an internal group set up last year to conduct investigations into allegations of corruption at its UK newspapers. The committee, whose remit includes overseeing the investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World and allegations of payments to police and other officials, will now report to Gerson Zweifach, News Corp’s group general counsel.
NZ: SkyCity worker disciplined over bible
18 June 2012
A SkyCity Casino worker has been threatened with dismissal for carrying a pocket bible with her when she works.
Force firms to reveal tax bills, urges MP Chuka Umunna, The Telegraph
17 June 2012
Companies should be forced to reveal how much tax they pay to the British government under a radical shake up of accounting rules, according to Shadow Business secretary, Chuka Umunna.
Olympics ticketing scandal set to cast shadow over London Games, The Guardian
17 June 2012
A ticketing scandal involving more than a quarter of the 204 countries represented at the Olympics looks set to hang over the London Games, after it emerged that an internal investigation is unlikely to be completed before the opening ceremony. The International Olympic Committee has promised to investigate allegations that 27 agents representing 54 countries were prepared to offer thousands of unauthorised tickets at prices of up to £6,000 to undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as envoys for a ticket broker from the Middle East.
Bonus fury mounts at Xstrata, The Sunday Times
17 June 2012
Angry shareholders are pressing the board on the £29m ‘golden handcuffs’ deal for Mick Davis, the mining group’s chief executive.
RBS sued over ‘Ponzi scheme’, The Sunday Times
17 June 2012
A FORMER hedge fund manager is suing Royal Bank of Scotland over claims that the bank ignored evidence of a £300m Ponzi scheme. Jeremy
Stone, a former trader at Marble Bar Asset Management, alleges that
NatWest, an RBS subsidiary, and one of its bankers decided to "turn a
blind eye” to a fraud carried out by two businessmen, Jolan Saunders and
Michael Strubel. Stone claims he and his family lost almost £19.3m
between 2009 and 2010. He accuses NatWest and one of its managers, Paul
Aplin, of negligence, dishonest assistance, deceit and conspiracy, and
is demanding almost £24m in damages.
Arms and oil bosses refuse to attend corporate responsibility inquiry, The Guardian
17 June 2012
The bosses of some of Britain's biggest arms and oil companies have refused to attend a parliamentary inquiry into the use of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money to help dictators build arsenals and facilitate environmental and human rights abuses. The businessmen, including Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, had been invited to an all-party investigation into the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD)'s underwriting of loans, including £35m to Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe to buy five Hawk fighter jets.
SA among Walmart’s five countries posing high risk of corruption, Business Report
15 June 2012
Walmart recommends that its employees in "certain
countries” make payments to police officers if they feel threatened by the
officer’s behaviour. But the employee must first say that they are prepared to
pay "an official a recorded fine” if the law has been broken and ask for a
ticket or receipt. However: "If the police officer becomes angry, aggressive or
you feel threatened by the police officer’s behaviour, as your health and safety
is our priority, you may make the payment.”
Gupta found guilty, The FT
15 June 2012
Rajat Gupta, the former
Goldman Sachs director, was found guilty of passing confidential information he
learnt while serving on the bank’s board to his former friend and hedge fund
manager, Raj Rajaratnam, handing the government its latest victory in its crackdown
on insider trading. The jury returned the verdict finding him guilty of four of six counts of
securities fraud. Mr Gupta could face a decade in prison when sentenced later
this year.
Rothschild’s baby called to account for ethical failings, The Times
15 June 2012
The Indonesian mining company introduced to the London Stock Exchange
by Nataniel Rothschild emerged to face criticism of its governance and
ethical record yesterday at its first annual meeting. Mr
Rothschild floated Bumi in 2010 via a cash shell in a move that gave
Indonesia’s influential Bakrie family exposure to the London markets.
But the scion of the banking dynasty fell out with his Indonesian
partners and was ousted as co-chairman earlier this year after promising
to raise governance standards.
Broker says bank added to rogue trader’s €4.9bn loss, The Times
15 June 2012
A fellow banker stepped forward yesterday to defend Jérôme Kerviel,
the "rogue trader”, saying he was not solely to blame for the €4.9
billion scandal that almost brought Société Générale to its knees. Philippe
Hoube, a former broker at Newedge, Société Générale’s brokerage unit,
said that the bank filled Kerviel’s account with losing operations
before unwinding them to increase the loss it could attribute to him,
rather than disclose it as its own. "It’s a case of having a conscience
... I have known injustice and I know what it is and have a hard time
accepting it,” he said.
Discrimination case rattles Silicon Valley, The FT
15 June 2012
A rare sex discrimination lawsuit has riled Silicon Valley, less for its allegations of harassment and retaliation, and more for making public an uncomfortable issue that is usually dealt with behind closed doors. Ellen Pao, a junior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the prominent venture capital firm that backed Amazon and Google, filed a lawsuit against her employer last month claiming the firm’s management had overlooked women for promotions and did nothing to stop a male colleague from retaliating when she refused to maintain a sexual relationship with him. He left the firm in January.
NZ: Second ACC property fraudster given home detention, National Businesss Review
15 June 2012
ACC property fraudster Gregory Alexander Hutt (54) has been sentenced to 11 months' home detention. Hutt and his companies were the owner and developer of a Whangarei site at 13 Walton St which is currently leased to ACC. He was also formerly a director and shareholder of HiTech Commercial Interiors and is the second person to plead guilty over ACC property fraud.
Stanford sentenced to 110 years in prison, The FT
15 June 2012
Texas banker Allen Stanford
was sentenced to 110 years in prison for defrauding customers of $7bn to fund a
lavish lifestyle including the purchase of Caribbean real estate, a fleet of
airplanes and an international cricket tournament. The 110-year sentence handed down by US Judge David Hittner is less than the
Department of Justice's recommendation of a statutory maximum of 230 years.
Mining firm Bumi accused of human rights abuses, The Guardian
14 June 2012
Indonesian mining company Bumi, founded by financier Nat Rothschild, was on Thursday accused of human rights abuses at a heated annual general meeting. Campaigning shareholders raised concerns over the alleged dumping of coal and chemicals into coral reefs, the mistreatment of workers and the company's lack of transparency.
Foxconn Says Another Worker Committed Suicide, Reuters
14 June 2012
Foxconn Technology Group, the main supplier of Apple Inc, said on Thursday a worker at a Chinese plant jumped from his apartment on Wednesday, the first suicide since the company agreed with its U.S. client to improve work conditions. The 23 year-old worker fell to his death from his apartment located outside the plant in the southwestern city of Chengdu, according to a statement by Foxconn. The worker had joined the company last month and police were investigating the death.
WPP investors reject Sorrell pay plan, The FT
13 June 2012
Sir Martin Sorrell on
Wednesday became the latest FTSE chief executive to lose a shareholder vote
over pay after around 60 per cent of WPP investors voted down the marketing
company’s remuneration report.
Sir Martin, who since 1985 has transformed the former shell company Wire and
Plastic Products into the world’s largest advertising group by revenues and
market capitalisation, had been awarded a 60 per cent rise in total
remuneration to £6.8m in 2011.
Banks bow to EU over limit to bonuses, The FT
13 June 2012
Bankers’ bonuses across the European Union are set to be limited by law, with many bank lobbyists admitting in private that they have lost the fight against a European Parliament initiative to limit the size of bonuses relative to salary. Some banks still hope to increase the proposed ratio from 1:1 to 2:1 or beyond, while others are trying to limit the restriction to upfront cash bonuses, excluding deferred payouts. But many bankers now accept the principle of a ratio as inevitable.
JPMorgan Chase chief blames executives, The FT
13 June 2012
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, told a congressional hearing on Wednesday he was unaware the bank’s chief investment office was accumulating large losses because he was "assured” by his top executives there was only an "isolated, small issue”. On April 13, in a briefing to analysts, Mr Dimon dismissed concerns over the activity in the CIO as "a tempest in a teapot”. Less than a month later, he revealed losses of more than $2bn from "egregious” trading activity.
China soccer match-fixing: former football chief and top players jailed, The Guardian
13 June 2012
A former Chinese football chief and several former national team players have been sentenced to jail for taking bribes or match-fixing, state media has reported, as authorities try to clear up rampant corruption in the sport. Nan Yong, the former head of Chinese football, was sentenced to 10 years for taking bribes of $235,000, Xinhua reported.
Mine deal corruption risk 'was ignored by ENRC' , The Independent
13 June 2012
The blue-chip miner ENRC knew there was a risk of corruption when it acquired
the Kolwezi copper mine in the Congo from Dan Gertler, a friend of President
Joseph Kabila, but went ahead with the deal anyway, it was alleged
yesterday. As ENRC's new chairman, Mehmet Dalman, sought to assure investors at its
annual shareholders meeting yesterday that the Kazakh miner was entering a new
era of transparency, it was suggested the risk that corrupt Congolese officials
might have benefited from the opaque asset sales was reported to the Serious
Organised Crime Agency two years ago.
ING to pay $619m to settle sanctions case, The FT
13 June 2012
ING has agreed to pay $619m to settle allegations it violated US sanctions by helping Iranian and Cuban companies move billions of dollars through the US financial system. ING accepted that its actions, spanning more than 20,000 transactions from the early 1990s until 2007, violated US law, according to court documents. It is the largest penalty ever levied for sanctions violations, the Treasury department said.
WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell faces shareholder vote against his pay, The Guardian
13 June 2012
The WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell will face a backlash on Wednesday over the £6.8m pay deal he has defended as a reward for "performance, not failure". The package, which marks a 60% rise on the previous year, is likely to be voted against by a substantial number of shareholders, concerned the reward is out of sync with the return on their investments.
Google to be investigated over data cover-up claims, The Guardian
12 June 2012
Google is facing increasing pressure after the information commissioner launched an investigation into claims that it orchestrated a cover-up of its capture of emails, passwords and medical records of people in the UK. The UK data watchdog has written to Google demanding answers after it emerged that the search engine firm knew its Street View cars could harvest personal information as they photographed homes across the globe.
Head of ENRC faces governance challenge, The FT
12 June 2012
"It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” Benjamin Franklin did not say how long a reputation takes to rebuild. Mehmet Dalman, chairman of Eurasian Natural Resources Corp since February, is about to find out. On Tuesday, Mr Dalman holds his first annual shareholder meeting. On Wednesday, he will host analysts at an unusual event billed as a "corporate governance breakfast”.
Is it good to go public over pay dispute?, The FT
12 June 2012
Last week Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive and founder of WPP, the advertising group, defended the size of his pay package in the Financial Times. His public intervention came after shareholder activism had affected other companies including insurer Aviva and drugs company AstraZeneca. In light of the ‘shareholder spring’, is going public the best way to handle a pay dispute?
Ex-Aegis executives plead guilty to fraud, The FT
12 June 2012
Two former executives at a large outdoor advertising company owned by Aegis Group have pleaded guilty to a $19.75m accounting fraud scheme that the Federal Bureau of Investigation described as a plot to falsify the company’s books in order to boost their remuneration. Todd Hansen, president of Aegis’ Posterscope from 2004 until 2009, pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday in federal court. James Buckley, Posterscope’s former finance director, pleaded guilty earlier this month. The men are scheduled to be sentenced in October and could face up to 40 years in prison.
SEC charges 14 linked to Cosmo $415 million Ponzi scam, Reuters
12 June 2012
Fourteen sales agents associated with convicted swindler Nicholas Cosmo were
charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with misleading thousands
of middle-class investors into buying securities to fuel his $415 million Ponzi
scheme. The SEC said more than 5,000 investors in Long Island, New York and elsewhere
were falsely promised outsized returns through non-existent investments from
Cosmo's Agape World Inc and Agape Merchant Advance LLC.
Wal-Mart bribery review includes Brazil, China, Reuters
12 June 2012
Lawyers for Wal-Mart Stores Inc have flagged Brazil, China, India and South Africa in addition to Mexico, as countries that represent the highest corruption risk in a global review, according to a letter from lawmakers investigating the company. The lawyers said they first reviewed Wal-Mart policies in Mexico, Brazil and China, and later recommended the company also evaluate its operations in India and South Africa. The lawyers referred to those five countries as regions where the risk was the greatest, according to the lawmakers.
Former Innospec CEO Pleads Guilty in UK, WSJ
11 June 2012
Paul Jennings, a former chief executive of Innospec Ltd., pleaded guilty in
the U.K. to corruption charges. Jennings, who stepped down in 2009, pleaded guilty Monday at Southwark Crown
Court to two counts of conspiracy to corrupt after agreeing to give payments to
officials and agents of the Iraqi and Indonesian governments between 2002 and
2008 to secure contracts for the sale of the company’s products, including the
fuel additive Tetraethyl Lead, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office said in a statement.
NZ: Finance director charged with $5m fraud, National Business Review
11 June 2012
The Serious Fraud Office has confirmed it has laid charges against the director of an Albany-based investment firm for allegedly stealing investor funds. Even Paul Cherry, 54, was the sole director of Investment Solutions Ltd, ISL Nominees Ltd, Trading Securities Ltd, ISL Strategic Investments Ltd and ISL Strategic Investments 100 Ltd.
Big UK funds urge rethink on incentives, The FT
11 June 2012
Some of the UK’s biggest
fund managers are pushing banks and other blue-chip companies to adopt a
dramatic change in pay practices, overhauling so-called long-term incentive
plans to make them genuinely long term.
Schools need to champion a sustainability mindset, The FT
11 June 2012
This week is the 20th anniversary of the UN’s 1992 Rio earth summit. More than 300 leaders from the world’s business schools will convene in Rio de Janeiro as the third global forum of the Principles for Responsible Management Education kicks off the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development. Rio+20 will bring together world leaders to make decisions that could lead to a healthier, more equitable and prosperous world for all. In time this could lead to the adoption of an economic model – sustainable development – that focuses on building prosperity for the medium and long term.
Anger as business chiefs’ pay soars 10%, The FT
11 June 2012
The row over rising executive pay has been reignited by a survey showing the median total remuneration of FTSE 100 bosses increased 10 per cent last year to £3.7m. The rise was five times the increase in average earnings across the economy, well above inflation, and came at a time when the FTSE 100 index fell 5 per cent.
Diplomats of the boardroom, The Sunday Times
10 June 2012
Do you need someone to lead an international team? Then you had better hope
you have a Canadian handy, or perhaps a Finn or an Australian. The laid-back
qualities of these nationalities mean they tend to make good chairmen,
according to Richard Lewis, author of When Teams Collide.
"Overseas Chinese” — from Malaysia, Singapore and other countries outside
mainland China — are also good at leading international teams, and indeed at
most other aspects of working internationally.
KPO Probe Highlights Customs Risks, WSJ
08 June 2012
An internal investigation by some of the world’s largest energy firms into
allegations of corruption in a Kazakhstan customs office may strike a chord with
companies shipping freight to the developing world. The Wall Street Journal reported
Thursday that members of Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV and a logistics arm
of Deutsche Post AG, which handles freight shipments for the
group, received an anonymous email in March alleging improper payments for
moving goods through Kazakhstan’s Aksai City customs office.
NZ: Company reputation more important than product, National Business Review
08 June 2012
Consumers are driven more by what a company stands for than what it sells, says the publisher of a new study into global corporate reputation. BMW, Sony and Walt Disney top the Reputation Institute's list of the world's most reputable companies, released today. Its Global RepTrak 100 study of more than 100,000 consumers identifies how stakeholders perceive companies, and how those perceptions affect purchasing behaviour.
NZ: CEO Pay Survey: Salaries stall for NZ's top bosses, NZ Herald
08 June 2012
The age of austerity has caught up with some of the country's most powerful bosses and for the first time in the eight years of the Business Herald Executive Pay Survey the value of the average chief executive pay packet has dropped. Packages for chief executives of some of the biggest firms fell by an average of 0.4 per cent in the 2011 financial year compared with the year before, the survey shows.
Fifa advisers allege ethics panel sexism, The FT
08 June 2012
Fifa will not allow women
to sit on a key ethics committee to investigate allegations of wrongdoing
within football’s governing body, independent advisers on reform have claimed.Two officials are alleged to have informed the advisers of this policy during a
lunch at Fifa’s annual Congress in Budapest last month barely an hour after
members voted to set up the two-chamber committee with powers to investigate
allegations of wrongdoing and adjudicate on them.The sex discrimination allegations will plunge Fifa into a new controversy at a
time when the scandal-riddled body is seeking to persuade critics of its
commitment to reform.
NZ: Employer breached email privacy
07 June 2012
An employer used key stroke information to discover a man's password which gave it access to his work computer and a personal email account. The man complained to the Privacy Commissioner's Office which found the employer had breached Privacy Act principles, case notes published today show. The employer collected the personal information as part of an employment investigation but this failed to comply with the law, the commission's office said.
Uefa's anti-corruption chief to quit after Euro 2012, The FT
07 June 2012
The fight against
match-fixing in European football, rocked by arrests at the Italian national
team’s training ground last week, has suffered a fresh blow with the
resignation of its anti-corruption chief after only a year in the job. Pierre Cornu, chief legal counsel for integrity and regulatory affairs, will
leave his post after the Euro 2012 tournament, which begins on Friday, Uefa,
European football’s governing body, has confirmed. His departure follows the resignation earlier this year of the head of security
for Fifa, the sport’s world governing body.
Glencore chief defends high executive pay, The FT
07 June 2012
Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive of Glencore, has launched a provocative defence of high pay for executives, arguing that substantial remuneration is required to secure entrepreneurial leaders. His comments echo those of Sir Martin Sorrell, the embattled head of WPP, who this week argued in favour of competitive pay, and come after a series of pay-related rebellions against UK chief executives.
Bonuses cut at M&S and J Sainsbury, The FT
07 June 2012
The chief executives of Marks and Spencer and J Sainsbury will both receive reduced annual cash bonuses as they failed to meet performance targets. Marc Bolland of Marks and Spencer will receive an annual bonus worth £663,000 following a fall in profits at the retail group. He will receive a cash bonus of £332,000, a 19 per cent decline, with the remaining amount in shares to vest in June 2015, according to the retailer’s annual report.
Senator requests SEC investigate Vertex, The FT
07 June 2012
A US senator has asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch an investigation to determine if executives from Vertex Pharmaceuticals illegally sold stock after realising that results of an important clinical drug trial were overstated. In early May, shares of Vertex jumped 55 per cent when it reported strong results of a clinical trial on a cystic fibrosis drug. The company hopes the drug will be approved for the general adult population by the US Food and Drug Administration and Wall Street analysts expect the treatment to generate strong sales.
Regulator reviews JPMorgan’s disclosures, The FT
06 June 2012
The US bank regulator overseeing JPMorgan Chase is reviewing whether the company provided bank examiners with adequate information on trading positions that have led to at least $2bn in losses. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is also probing the bank’s remuneration schemes and whether it will claw back money paid to the responsible traders and executives, according to prepared testimony to Congress.
NZ: Five Star's Anthony Bowden sentenced to home detention, National Business Review
06 June 2012
Five Star Finance director Anthony Walpole Bowden has been sentenced to nine months' home detention and ordered to do 400 hours of community work after pleading guilty to two theft charges. Justice Paul Heath has just delivered the sentence in Auckland High Court.
Barclays executives to stand trial over ‘tax fraud’ in Italy, The Times
06 June 2012
Barclays’ attempts to shed its reputation for aggressive tax
avoidance suffered a setback yesterday when three of its executives were
charged with tax fraud in Italy. The Barclays executives, who
deny the charges, were among 20 people ordered to stand trial by a judge
in Milan on charges of taking part in an alleged plan by the Italian
bank UniCredit to evade €245 million (£198 million) in tax.
Revealed: Saudi royals'secret $1bn US empire, The Independent
06 June 2012
A secret $1bn US property empire amassed by members of the Saudi royal family
is the subject of a bitter legal dispute that threatens to reveal the extent of
the family's American business interests. The oil giant BP and the British defence contractor BAE Systems are among the
tenants of companies associated with Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, the playboy son
of the late King Fahd, according to court documents.
Tesco supplier accused of contributing to Amazon rainforest destruction, The Guardian
06 June 2012
British consumers are unwittingly contributing to the devastation of the Amazon rainforest by buying meat products from Tesco, according to Greenpeace. The environmental group says in a report that canned beef from the supermarket chain has been found to contain meat from ranches that have been carved out of the lands of indigenous peoples, and farms the Brazilian government believes have been sited in illegally deforested lands.
Kroll Study Finds Concern about Bribery Risk as Investment Increases, WSJ
06 June 2012
Investing in compliance is on the rise but those tasked with implementing it
are still concerned about exposure to risk, a new survey by Kroll found. The survey of 139 corporate compliance executives, conducted between July
2011 and February of this year, found that 95% of respondents believe their
companies’ exposure to bribery risk increased or held steady over the past few
years, and that 85% of respondents said it will increase or stay the same in the
future.
Spain launches investigation into Bankia management, The Telegraph
06 June 2012
Eduardo Torres-Dulce, Spain’s attorney general, said on Wednesday that he ha ordered the country’s anti-corruption unit to investigate whether there were grounds to take "penal” action against the management of the bank. The investigation comes as public anger over the running of Bankia grows as the revelation of the scale of problems at the lender has seen shareholders lose almost all their money.
Afren shareholders revolt over pay for the third year running, The Telegraph
06 June 2012
Oil explorer Afren has suffered a major shareholder revolt over remuneration for the third year in a row, after its chief executive’s pay more than doubled to $3.4m (£2.2m) thanks to a one-off bonus.
British corruption is more common than recognised, report warns, The Telegraph
06 June 2012
The anti-corruption watchdog said in a report: "In the UK there seems to be a lack of awareness regarding the extent of corruption. "Politicians, government, business and institutions throughout the UK urgently need to understand and accept that corruption is a problem in key sectors in the UK and must be tackled consistently and coherently.”
Tax ‘fraud’ trial for ex-UniCredit chief, The FT
05 June 2012
Alessandro Profumo, former chief executive of UniCredit, and 19 others must stand trial for alleged tax fraud involving a scheme set up by Barclays, a Milan judge said on Tuesday. Those accused along with Mr Profumo include 16 other former and current employees of Italy’s largest bank by assets and three Barclays employees.
Deutsche Post to pay €516m in back taxes, The FT
05 June 2012
Deutsche Post, the logistics group, is to pay the German government €516m in back taxes to resolve a six-year dispute about a tax exemption that pitted Berlin against Brussels. The group said the sum covered the period from 1998 until mid-2010, when the German parliament ended a value added tax exemption for postal companies providing a "universal service” – which only Deutsche Post was in fact able to offer.
SocGen scandal was not my fault because bosses knew all along, Kerviel tells court, The Times
05 June 2012
The former junior trader who lost €4.9 billion at Société Générale painted
himself as a pawn in a lawless financial game during his appeal hearing
before a court yesterday.
Jérôme Kerviel, the hairdresser’s son from Brittany responsible for France’s
biggest financial scandal, was seeking to prove that he had conducted rogue
dealings on the orders of managers at the bank that employed him.
Mea culpa – I act like the owner I am, The FT
05 June 2012
Many may think it is invidious for me to comment on my own compensation, but I wanted to add to the debate on CEO compensation. Twenty seven years ago we started WPP, or Wire & Plastic Products as it was then known, from one room in London with two people and a market capitalisation of just £1m. Today we have more than 160,000 people in 108 countries and a market capitalisation of about £10bn.
WPP’s Sorrell defends £6.8m pay package, The FT
05 June 2012
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief
executive of WPP, has issued a robust defence of his pay in the FT ahead of a
showdown with some big shareholders in the world’s largest advertising group
that is shaping up as a test case for executive remuneration in the UK.
Mexico allegations spark dissent at Walmart, The FT
04 June 2012
More than a quarter of independent shareholders have voted against senior Walmart directors in a protest over alleged bribery in Mexico and the company’s governance. While all of the retailer’s board nominees were elected, support for chairman Rob Walton, chief executive Mike Duke and Lee Scott, Mr Duke’s predecessor, fell sharply from last year when they secured more than 99 per cent of the total vote.
Under ever closer scrutiny, The FT
04 June 2012
Last month, Christopher Grierson, a prominent London lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison. His crime: falsely claiming almost £1.3m of travel expenses from his former employer, law firm Hogan Lowells. Mr Grierson’s case was noteworthy because of his status – the firm had once described him as a "star” and he had worked on a number of well-known cases, including representing the trustee responsible for liquidating the assets of Bernard Madoff – as well as his salary of £830,000, which would suggest he did not need the extra money.
FSA to spot check City firms, The FT
03 June 2012
The UK financial watchdog
is to carry out spot checks on City firms’ reporting of suspicious trades, as
part of its broader crackdown on market abuse, the Financial Times has learnt.
Lloyds security boss bailed on £2.5m fraud charge, The Times
01 June 2012
A former head of fraud and security at Lloyds charged with stealing almost
£2.5 million from the bank allegedly used part of the proceeds to help her
family buy property.
Jessica Harper, 50, appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday,
charged with committing a £2.46 million scam. It is alleged that between
2008 and 2011 Ms Harper, who was the bank’s head of digital security,
submitted false business invoices to claim payments that she was not
entitled to.
Intel, Xcel Energy, Alcoa Among US Companies Linking Exec Pay to Sustainability, Environmental Leader
01 June 2012
Intel, Xcel Energy, Alcoa, ING, National Grid, Shell, and Suncor Energy are among the US companies tying executive compensation to sustainability performance, according to a report from The Conference Board. The report, "Linking Executive Compensation to Sustainability Performance,” says shareholders are placing more value on corporate sustainability initiatives, and are becoming increasingly interested in linking such performance to executives’ compensation.
Serco faces fresh allegations over Cornwall out-of-hours GP service, The Guardian
01 June 2012
Staff and patients of the Cornwall out-of-hours GP service have raised fresh concerns about the level of care being provided by the privatised contractor Serco. They allege that only one GP was on duty from midnight to 8am for the whole county the night of 29 May. They have also revealed that a switch to a new automated system to deal with patients' calls, in which callhandlers following a computer-generated script replace medically trained nurses, led to queues of 40-plus waiting three hours and more for advice over the weekend of 26-27 May.
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