Criminal activity within Lloyds Bank

The CNN report of the $350 million fine agreed by Lloyds Bank stated the following on 10th January:

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"For more than 12 years Lloyd's facilitated the anonymous movement of hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S.-sanctioned nations through our financial system," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich.

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"Lloyds stripped identifying information from international wire transfers that would have raised a red flag at U.S. financial institutions and caused such payments to be scrutinized," he said.

Although the money must be forfeited, under terms of the deal Lloyds will not presently be prosecuted because it accepted responsibility and has vowed to abide by the U.S. laws. After two years the U.S. will forego prosecution and formally drop the criminal charge.

In a statement, the bank said: "We committed substantial resources to a thorough internal investigation, the results of which were shared with U.S. investigators and regulators.

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The British Prime Minister asked yesterday, 21st January, eleven days after the widespread report of this fine, by a Member of his own Party about the absence of any prosecutions or inquiries into this matter in the UK, quoted here, replied:

My hon. Friend is making very detailed allegations. Our sanctions policy against Iran has been one of the toughest in the world. It is tough on banks, tough on oil companies and tough on other institutions. I will of course look at the allegations that he has made, but I can tell him that we and other countries are leading the world in the sanctions against Iran. As reported by Robert Peston, BBC Business Correspondent, on his blog on 17th September, 2008 it was the Prime Minister who appears to have been the facilitator for the takeover by Lloyds of HBOS read here from which I quote: UPDATE 10:32AM: I am hearing that this deal has been negotiated at a very high pay grade level, with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, talking to Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB, about how helpful it would be if Sir Victor could bring himself to end the uncertainty hanging over HBOS by buying it. Does not the apparent ignorance of the Prime Minister of the huge fine levied against Lloyds as conveyed by his reply in the House of Commons yesterday not then appear quite extraordinary, as does the non-reporting of the question in the UK media a silence as deafening as the absence of reporting on the fine itself by the majority of the media since 10th January 2009 when it was announced? Many wonder what has gone wrong with British banking under the regulatory regime imposed by Gordon Brown and subject to a speech by Lord Turner last evening, read here. My posting of 18th September last year titled "The Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds" raised many concerns still unanswered. Many deeper questions are raised than those Lord Turner chose to cover last evening as yesterday's parliamentary exchange and the media silence vividly illustrates. They would seem to go to the heart of Britain's system of governance.