Three former employees of the UK's National Westminster Bank Plc were accused of skimming US$7.3 million from an Enron Corp partnership in the first criminal fraud charges to emerge from the US Justice Department's investigation into the energy trader's collapse.
The former bank officers, Gary Mulgrew, Giles Darby and David Bermingham, secretly invested in an Enron off-the-books partnership and siphoned off income that "rightfully belonged to their employer," prosecutors said.
The charges show the Justice Department's determination to follow all leads in the Enron investigation, said Leslie Caldwell, who heads the probe. The investigation includes banks that provided billions of dollars in loans to Enron and bank officials who may have benefited personally.
"We intend to address the conduct not only of Enron, but also of those who capitalized on Enron's willingness to enter into accounting-driven transactions that lacked business purpose," Caldwell said.
The charges against the three men were spelled out in papers filed in federal court in Houston. A civil suit filed last week in New York against Royal Bank of Canada said the three had worked for National Westminster, or NatWest, in London and were hired by the Royal Bank of Canada in May 2000.
Canada's National Post has reported that Royal Bank of Canada asked them to resign in November to avoid damaging the Toronto-based bank's reputation.
Officials at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which acquired NatWest in April 2000, didn't return calls seeking comment about the investigation.
The three accused men couldn't be reached for comment. Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman, said authorities believe the three are "in the United Kingdom."
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering
RSS