BRENTWOOD, ESSEX June 2, 2011 ST. JOHN’S AVENUE, WARLEY Price: £425,000. This four-bedroom semi-detached house has a both a front and back garden, a dining room, living room, kitchen, four bedrooms and has recently had its bathrooms refitted. Contact: Beresfords on 01277 231515 or go to www.beresfordsgroup.co.uk THE GALLERIES Price: Prices range from £168,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to £485,000 [...]
Fraud against government costs £700m, says KPMG May 19, 2011 FRAUD against the UK government is costing the public purse almost £700m a year, leading consultant KPMG will announce today. Fraud had reached a peak of £679m in 2006-07, before dropping to £286m in 2008-09 following a VAT-related clampdown. Yet fraud surged to a fresh high of £693m in 2010-11. “Financial criminals are now becoming [...]
Trader fined £1.3m by FSA June 14, 2011 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned a trader for market abuse and ordered him to pay more than £1.3m in damages. Self-employed trader Barnett Michael Alexander was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £322,818 in restitution to firms that experienced a loss as a result of his actions. An additional £306,312 was also transferred to [...]
Weir guilty over oil for food December 13, 2010 Engineering firm Weir Group announced yesterday it would plead guilty to two charges of breaching UN sanctions over oil-for-food contracts it was awarded by Saddam Hussein between 2000 and 2002. Weir was formally charged with the offences by the Crown Office in Scotland yesterday and it is expected the case will be heard at the [...]
Eurozone runs the risk of going up in flames July 3, 2011 LAST week I had a scary near-miss moment. I was so distracted by uploading photos of myself looking smug on Centre Court at Wimbledon that I forgot to switch off the hob. Next morning, I discovered the gas had burned all night, perilously close to the tea towel and the dog. But Wimbledon was so [...]
Focus on Ealing: West is the best July 10, 2011 Office Space WITH the clamour and disruption of Crossrail making itself known across central London, investors can seek consolation in turning their thoughts to its profitable prospects in one of London’s most tranquil outposts. Ealing, dubbed “Queen of Suburbs” by no less an authority than Nikolaus Pevsner, will benefit from not one but two Crossrail [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 5, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES RWE CONSIDERS PULLING THE PLUG ON NPOWER On the banks of the River Trent, a new gas-fired power station at Staythorpe represents a £650m investment by Npower, the UK subsidiary of the German utility RWE, in Britain’s energy future. Yet RWE has been reviewing its strategic options, advised by Goldman Sachs, as it grapples [...]
Banks cleared after probe into Parmalat April 18, 2011 A COURT in Milan has cleared Citigroup, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley of market-rigging in a high-profile trial related to the 2003 collapse of food giant Parmalat. The four international banks had been charged for allegedly helping the Italian food group mislead investors at the time of the Parmalat scandal, dubbed Europe’s [...]
Belgium may be the next domino to fall in crisis July 12, 2011 WHILE most of the focus of the Eurozone crisis has been on Portugal, Greece and Ireland, more countries are being drawn into the fray. Italy’s bond yields are spiking and governmentless Belgium seems overdue for a government bond rating downgrade. With a lack of faith in the euro, these worries are driving the Swiss franc [...]
Belgium may be the next domino to fall in crisis July 12, 2011 WHILE most of the focus of the Eurozone crisis has been on Portugal, Greece and Ireland, more countries are being drawn into the fray. Italy’s bond yields are spiking and governmentless Belgium seems overdue for a government bond rating downgrade. With a lack of faith in the euro, these worries are driving the Swiss franc [...]