GUILTY EURIBOR TRADER FLED UK

A BARCLAYS banker who rigged global interest rates has evaded UK justice by running away to his native France.

Philippe Moryoussef (pictured), a senior derivatives trader, has been found guilty in his absence of dishonestly manipulating the Euribor interbank lending rate, after an 11week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The 50-year-old fled to Paris in April saying he was concerned he would not get a fair trial after co-defendant Christian Bittar, 46, pleaded guilty.

Moryoussef and Bittar were convicted of conspiracy to defraud and are due to be sentenced next Friday. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) declined to comment on steps it may or may not be taking to try to bring Moryoussef back to the UK. His lawyer Francois de Casto has said his client is under the protection of French law and would eventually refer the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Prosecutors cast Moryoussef and Bittar as ringleaders of the scam.

This week the jury failed to reach verdicts on Carlo Palombo, 39, Sisse Bohart, 41, and Colin Bermingham, 62. They face a possible retrial. Moryoussef had been convicted at the end of June but reporting the verdict was banned until the end of his colleagues’ trial.

Moryoussef has argued that the behaviour complained of was not a criminal offence at the time.