RBS ex-vice-chairman joins lawsuit that may put old boss in court

A FORMER vice chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland who once described himself as a “good friend” of Fred Goodwin is trying to join a legal battle over the lender’s £12bn rights issue that could force the company’s former boss to appear in court.

In a twist to the high-pro- file lawsuit, Sir Angus Grossart filed a claim to join a group of about 27,000 private and institutional investors led by law firm Signature Litigation who are suing RBS, Mr Goodwin and other former directors. It is thought Sir Angus is among about 1,000 new complainants who want to join the Signature Litigation group, including Sir Brian Souter, the Scottish businessman best known for founding travel company Stagecoach.

Shareholders have alleged that RBS misled them over its financial health when it was drumming up support for its cash call at the height of the crisis in 2008, just before its taxpayer rescue.

Four other investor groups have already settled with the bank over the rights issue. If the Signature Litigation group does not follow suit, the case will go to court in May and Mr Goodwin will have to take the stand.

RBS has set aside £800m to cover the claims made by the five groups, which were seeking over £4bn.

The involvement of influ- ential Scottish businessman Sir Angus is intriguing given his close links to Mr Goodwin, who lost his knighthood in the public furore that followed the bank’s £45.5bn government bailout.

Sir Angus spent almost 20 years on the RBS board before leaving in 2005. In 2010, he gave a newspaper interview in which he called former boss Mr Goodwin a “good friend” and said he had been made a “scapegoat” for the banking meltdown.

An RBS spokesman said: “RBS’s consistent position has been that shareholders that have issued claims after the June 2014 limitation date are not eligible to claim and that it will defend all such claims on that basis.”