Libor charges are about evidence, not people, says fraud squad boss David Green
The fraud squad boss today hit back at criticism his agency, which is currently investigating the Libor scandal, had busied itself with relatively junior bankers when it should be going after the bigger fish.
David Green, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), told the Justice Select Committee he and his team were obliged as prosecutors to go where the evidence took them, remarking: "We don't go after the people. We go after the evidence and we go after the people the evidence points to."
In particular, Green was grilled over the outcome of the second Libor trial at the start of this year, in which six brokers who stood accused of conspiring with already convicted Tom Hayes were acquitted by the jury after just a few hours of deliberation.
Green pushed back that, after hearing a not dissimilar case, another jury later delivered guilty verdicts for three ex-Barclays bankers.
Read more: Ex-trader's alleged Libor rigging acts part of bank culture, court hears
Former UBS and Citigroup trader Hayes was the first person in the UK to be convicted by a jury for playing a part in manipulating the Libor rate. He was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison, but this was later reduced to 11 years on appeal.
Green, who would support a rethink of corporate liability rules to make it easier to go after companies where wrongdoings happen, noted the current law had made it impossible for his agency to take UBS to court.
Green added he did not feel it was fair to judge his agency on their overall conviction rate because their cases were more complex than the average.
"The SFO does not do punch ups at pubs. We do not do street robberies," he added.
Read more: Three former ICAP brokers have US Libor charges dropped
Since his appointment in 2012, Green has had the unenviable task of lifting the reputation of the SFO, which had been tarnished by high-profile failures like the inquiry into property developer Vincent Tchenguiz.
Green noted today the agency had garnered the unfortunate reputation "not wanting to take the risk" of prosecuting while under his predecessor's Richard Alderman rule.
Theresa May indicated she was keen to fold the SFO into the National Crime Agency while she was still home secretary, while, last year, even Green himself said he thought the fraud squad's future was in doubt.
However, Green was given a vote of confidence at the start of this year when his contract was extended through to 2018. Without this extension, Green would have stepped down in April.