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The UK financial regulator is “formally investigating” Greensill Capital, as documents released by a parliamentary committee showed former Prime Minister David Cameron putting pressure on the company 56 times separately last spring.
The Financial Conduct Authority revealed the investigation to the collapsed supply chain funding group in a letter from Nikhil Rathi, the executive chairman of the FCA, to Mel Stride, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons. Treasury Selection Committee.
Greensill entered the administration in March. Rathi said the FCA was collaborating with authorities in Germany, Australia, Switzerland and other countries.
The letter to Stride came up in a release of documents by the committee. The statement included a deluge of friendly messages from Cameron – who was an adviser to Greensill – to government and Whitehall figures in early 2020, begging them to help the company.
Documents showed Cameron bombing cabinet ministers and officials, including Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, via text messages, WhatsApp, email and phone calls in an attempt to change the rules on Covid-19 debt systems for the benefit of Greensill Capital.
He wanted supply chain companies to have access to the Bank of England’s Covid-19 debt plan. Although that attempt failed, Greensill accessed £ 400 million through another government loan plan for his clients.
In a message to Chancellor Rishi Sunak on April 3, 2020, Cameron praised the chancellor: “You are doing a great job, keep going.”
The former prime minister also sent a message to Sir Tom Scholar, the permanent secretary to the Treasury. “We meet with Rishi’s to get an elbow or a kick. Love DC ” [sic] He said.
At one point, he apologized to Scholar for bothering him: “One last point, I promise I’ll stop bothering you.” The next day, empty-handed, he said, “Now I’m calling CX (Sunak), Gove, everyone.”
Lex Greensill, Australian founder of the company, he told a Treasury committee hearing on Monday, insurance withdrawal was the “ultimate” cause of the group’s demise.
Greensill’s collapse has sparked concerns about the finances of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG, a major Greensill client that employs thousands of Liberty Steel workers in the UK.
In three hours of solid questioning by MPs, Greensill denied being a “fraudster”, given the heavy deal use of future accounts receivable – Loan based on income that does not yet exist. “At no point would I or my company have been dedicated to funding accounts receivable that we knew were fraudulent.”
Asked about what proportion of his company’s loans went to Gupta-related companies, Greensill declined to comment on “specific customers,” citing legal advice. He said GFG was not Greensill’s biggest customer, but admitted, “We had too high a concentration on some customers.”
Greensill was asked how he had been introduced to Whitehall in 2012 to advise the Cameron government on supply chain financing. “I was just trying to share my experience and give back something,” he said.
Explaining how Cameron came to work for him in 2018, the Australian financier said the former prime minister had been a “PAYE employee” and not a director, with “less than 1%” of the options. group actions. At one point, Greensill had a valuation of about $ 7 billion, bringing Cameron’s stake to $ 70 million.
Cameron had a “permanent invitation” to Greensill board meetings and attended regularly, he said.
Greensill added that the company bought four private jets because it was “an efficient way to get around.”
The Treasury told the committee of deputies in a separate communication that it had conducted a detailed assessment of Greensill’s proposal and concluded that it provided no value for money.
Cameron is scheduled to appear before the Treasury selection committee on Thursday.
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