Bank of Scotland fights rate swap fraud claim
Bank of Scotland said yester‑ day that it will fight allegations it defrauded a property group out of millions of pounds dur‑ ing the financial crash.
A court claim filed last month states the owner of Ventra Investments Ltd (VIL), Viswajit Palasuntheram, was told by his BOS relationship manager to cash in his interest rate swaps as there was “signif‑ icant value” in them.
The claim form alleges the value representations were “false” and “made fraudulent‑ ly”.
Instead of making money for VIL, the new swaps netted BOS more than £2 million it is alleged. The property group was unavailable to comment yesterday
A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group, Bos’s parent company, said: “As the matter is subject to ongoing legal pro‑ ceedings it would be inappro‑ priate to comment in detail, except to state that we believe the claim to be without merit and it will be contested vigor‑ ously.”