Libor scandal: Bob Diamond defiant but will give up £20m golden goodbye

BOB Diamond angrily rejected suggestions on Tuesday that he misled MPs over regulators’ concerns about activities at Barclays.

The bank’s former boss said the claims were “totally unfair and unfounded” – and indicated he was ready to appear before the Commons Treasury select committee again.

The rejection of the claims came in a letter sent following an evidence session with Barclays chairman Marcus Agius.

During the dramatic session, Mr Agius disclosed that Mr Diamond was “voluntarily” waiving a potential £20 million in defer­red share bonuses.

But the ex-chief executive will walk away with a £2m package, made up of a year’s salary and pension cash contribution.

Mr Agius – who has signalled he will step down after a replacement for Mr Diamond is found – admitted that Barclays’ relationship with the regulator was “strained”.

The MPs cited a letter from the Financial Services Authority flagging the FSA’s concerns about “a pattern of behaviour” in which Barclays sought to gain advantage through the use of complex structures which are “at the aggressive end of interpretation of the relevant rules and regulations”.

Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie and other members insisted the evidence contradicted what they heard from Mr Diamond, who denied knowing that regulators were concerned.

“Many of us, when we heard that last week, thought that his replies were implausible but didn’t have evidence to support that hunch,” Mr Tyrie said.

“Today, we began to collect quite a bit of evidence to suggest that Bob Diamond’s pre­sentation of what happened was quite a long way away from what really happened.”

Labour member John Mann said Mr Diamond had “serially misled” parliament on a range of issues.

He said it was the majority view of the committee that Mr Diamond should be recalled.

Mr Mann, who is also pressing for Mr Diamond to donate his £2m pay-off to charity, added: “There’s a question of the reputation of parliament.”

But in a statement last night Mr Diamond said : “Having watched the committee’s session today, I was dismayed that you and some of your fellow committee members appeared to suggest that I was less than candid last week. Any such suggestion would be totally unfair and

unfounded.”

He also stressed that he had not been questioned about the period when the FSA had raised concerns, in April this year.

“I trust this addresses any concerns you may have had,” he went on. “The comments made at today’s hearing have had a terribly unfair impact upon my reputation, which is of paramount concern to me.

“I look forward to discussing this issue with you further if you wish to do so.”

Mr Agius also revealed that Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King called him into an emergency meeting to explain “in no uncertain terms” that the FSA believed Mr Diamond needed to go.

He said it was clear from the meeting that the FSA thought Mr Agius’s resignation was inadequate. But he argued the FSA had changed its stance on Mr Diamond’s position at the helm in the days after the rate-rigging scandal broke.

He said the regulator did not give the impression Mr Diamond should resign when the Libor-fixing settlement was

announced the previous week.