Letters to the editor

Questions remain over downfall of RBS

Sir, - RBS shareholders may settle out of court, but there are publicpolicy reasons for their case to continue.

Taxpayers bailed out RBS (and its directors) for £46 billion.

It remains publiclyowned. All “profits” from 2000 until 2007 were reversed immediately thereafter, with £60bn losses reported to date.

Its top brass retain phone number bonuses based on discredited numbers.

Lord Myners, Gordon Brown’s responsible minister, allowed them to swan off with massive pension “entitlements” effectively paid by us (£713,000 a year for life from age 50 for Fred Goodwin) rather than limited to £27,000 like other bankrupt firms.

Little light was thrown by Mr Goodwin or former chairman Sir Tom McKillop at the only public hearing to date (Treasury Select Committee, February 2009).

Archie Hunter, audit and remuneration chairman, has not publicly confirmed he fully supported the rights issue prospectus and fully understood what Mr Goodwin was doing (such as with complex instruments of debt consolidation/collateralisation, which Sir Tom admitted he did not).

The Dutch regulatory authority has not explained its lax oversight of ABN Amro Bank whose acquisition by the RBS-led consortium caused RBS’s downfall.

Serious questions remain, requiring explanations, which can be answered only in court to broaden our understanding of this debacle which is more important than the Rangers case. John Birkett. 12 Horseleys Park, St Andrews.

Fred Goodwin pictured in 2008 at the height of the crisis engulfing RBS.