Review of Panorama – David Cameron and the Missing Billions (BBC One – 9th August 2021)
By Mark Langabeer (Hastings and Rye CLP)
Panorama’s reporter, Andy Verity investigated claims that Greensill Capital had been involved in fraud which has left many investors, including the British state, out of pocket. Lex Greensill and Sanjeev Gupta are currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Squad over allegations that they have defrauded investors of around £2-5 billion.
The programme began with Greensill ‘s claim that the company was helping small businesses with bridging loans. The security for investors was based upon invoices that would normally be paid within 90 days. I personally think that this practice is unsound because of the risk of debtor bankruptcy, but it appears that in the world of high finance, this practice is fine and dandy. What Verity discovered is that Greensill were loaning money based upon non-existent invoices. In fact, two-thirds of the loans were based upon what was termed as potential invoices.
Verity investigated an American Coal supplier called Bluestone, who received $780 million in loans, based upon ‘potential buyers’. When he rang some of these future buyers, they stated that they had no intention of buying Coal from Bluestones. Matters came to a head when GFG Alliance, headed by Sandjeev Gupta, who employs around 4000 steelworkers in the UK, became insolvent. Gupta had borrowed £5 billion from Greensill Capital.
Biggest financial scandal in 20 years
Enter, David Cameron, the former Prime Minister and Tory leader, who was a part-time board member of Greensill Capital. He was lobbying the Government for financial support from the Bank of England. £320 million was given to Greensill under the coronavirus support scheme. Cameron claims that he had no knowledge of the inner workings of the company and had not knowingly deceived investors. Lex Greensill claims that it was Credit Suisse Bank that should have checked whether invoices were genuine or not. There will be plenty of buck passing going on as a result of what the programme described as the biggest financial scandal in 20 years.
What is abundantly clear, is that Greensill and Cameron have benefitted financially from Greensill Capital’s dodgy dealings. The programme stated that Greensill had made over £40 million and Cameron received over £10 million as a part-time advisor for a period of two and a half years. He also jetted around the world, promoting the company that is now under investigation for fraud.
The Labour leadership have raised this matter in Parliament, in particular, Cameron’s emails to ministers and civil servants. However, they should go further and demand that the banks and major financial institutions are nationalised with compensation based only upon need, and not to the likes of Lex Greensill and Dodgy Dave. Financial scandals and Tory sleaze are part and parcel of a system based upon private profit. It’s time the labour movement carried out its historic task, replacing the current system with socialist policies.
