Court battle for Fred the Shred starts on Monday

DISGRACED banker Fred ‘the shred’ Goodwin will finally be called to account for his actions in a landmark court case starting on Monday.

The former Royal Bank of Scotland boss was stripped of his knighthood after an eightyear reign which left the lender in tatters and helped wreck the global economy.

He has since avoided publicity but will be dragged back into the limelight in a lawsuit over the bank’s doomed £12bn fundraising bid at the height of the financial crisis. Shareholders who stumped up the cash claim they were misled over the financial health of the bank.

They are taking NatWest owner RBS to the High Court in a civil trial which will hear from former grandees including ex-chairman Sir Tom McKillop and former finance director Guy Whittaker. Goodwin, 58, will take the stand on June 8 and 9, with his legal fees paid by the bank. He still draws an annual pension of £342,500.

Campaigners argue that during his time in charge he presided over a culture of unbridled corporate excess and unfettered casino banking.

Hubris at RBS led to a series of high-risk gambles which went dramatically wrong, culminating in a disastrous £49bn purchase of Dutch rival ABN Amro in 2007.

In 2008 the Government was forced to step in and save the bank by giving it £46bn of taxpayers’ money. Chancellor Philip Hammond has admitted the Treasury is unlikely to ever get all of its bailout cash back.