18-02-2009, 02:53 PM
Notably it is a private prosecution - one hopes in vain that the government would embark on criminal investigation - but may it at east be the first of many similar cases brought against the banking sector.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7896572.stm
Court fight over RBS 'insolvency'
A former QC is taking the Royal Bank of Scotland to court, claiming the company concealed the "true state" of its finances when it sold him more shares.
Ian Hamilton, 83, said RBS was already insolvent when it launched a £12bn rights issue in April last year.
RBS said it would defend itself vigorously.
Mr Hamilton, one of a group which took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey in 1950, will take on RBS at Oban Sheriff Court's small claims court.
The former lawyer, from North Connel, Argyll and Bute, bought 640 shares at £2 per share in April's rights issue. The shares are now valued at less than 20p.
Bank's downfall
The bank recently came close to collapse and is now 68% owned by the taxpayer after being given £20bn of state support.
In addition, RBS has said it will post a loss of about £28bn when it publishes its full-year results later this month.
Mr Hamilton also hopes the case will answer some questions over the bank's downfall.
"We've had a parliamentary committee inquiry, in which everyone has said they were terribly sorry but they didn't tell us what they had actually done," he said.
The pensioner said the writ he had lodged in court stated that the bank invited shareholders, including his wife, to invest in a rights issue and that he took up the offer on her behalf.
He alleged RBS induced him to invest his money by "concealing the true state of their finances".
And he alleged the bank was "negligent in representing themselves as solvent at all material times when in fact they were insolvent".
An RBS spokesman said he was aware of the case but declined to comment further ahead of the legal proceedings.
Mr Hamilton is well-known for his exploits while he was a law student at Glasgow University.
He and three friends broke into Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 and took the iconic stone on which Scottish kings were crowned.
It had been plundered from Scone Abbey in 1299 by Edward I of England.
The students held on to it for a year before leaving it in Arbroath Abbey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7896572.stm
Court fight over RBS 'insolvency'
A former QC is taking the Royal Bank of Scotland to court, claiming the company concealed the "true state" of its finances when it sold him more shares.
Ian Hamilton, 83, said RBS was already insolvent when it launched a £12bn rights issue in April last year.
RBS said it would defend itself vigorously.
Mr Hamilton, one of a group which took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey in 1950, will take on RBS at Oban Sheriff Court's small claims court.
The former lawyer, from North Connel, Argyll and Bute, bought 640 shares at £2 per share in April's rights issue. The shares are now valued at less than 20p.
Bank's downfall
The bank recently came close to collapse and is now 68% owned by the taxpayer after being given £20bn of state support.
In addition, RBS has said it will post a loss of about £28bn when it publishes its full-year results later this month.
Mr Hamilton also hopes the case will answer some questions over the bank's downfall.
"We've had a parliamentary committee inquiry, in which everyone has said they were terribly sorry but they didn't tell us what they had actually done," he said.
The pensioner said the writ he had lodged in court stated that the bank invited shareholders, including his wife, to invest in a rights issue and that he took up the offer on her behalf.
He alleged RBS induced him to invest his money by "concealing the true state of their finances".
And he alleged the bank was "negligent in representing themselves as solvent at all material times when in fact they were insolvent".
An RBS spokesman said he was aware of the case but declined to comment further ahead of the legal proceedings.
Mr Hamilton is well-known for his exploits while he was a law student at Glasgow University.
He and three friends broke into Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 and took the iconic stone on which Scottish kings were crowned.
It had been plundered from Scone Abbey in 1299 by Edward I of England.
The students held on to it for a year before leaving it in Arbroath Abbey.