Barnet and the Icelandic bank disaster - an interesting development

Buried away on the Council's website is notice of a decision "Sale of Claim in LBI". What this is in fact is Barnet's attempt to bring the long running Icelandic bank (Landsbanki) debacle to an end, albeit at a further cost to local council tax payers. Barnet note that whilst part of the claim has been settled we are still waiting for around £7.9 million to be returned which may take several years at least to settle.

The Local Government Association have been advised by lawyers Bevan Brittan and have appointed Deutsche Bank to sell our outstanding claim at auction which is possible under Icelandic law. The Council have set a reserve price for our debt but that is not stated for obvious reasons. How much on the pound we will get for our outstanding debt who knows, but one thing is sure, it will not be for the full amount of the debt and we will have lost years of interest.

I marvel at the irony when I think that it was the financial institutions who brought about this global banking disaster and they are now seeking to make money from their mistakes by buying up that bad debt at a discount and I'm sure Deutsche Bank aren't running this auction out of the kindness of their hearts.

I look forward to Richard Cornelius telling us exactly how much we have had to forgo in order to get at least some of our Icelandic money back.

Capita, conflicts of Interest and money lost in Iceland

Last week I saw a very interesting FOI request on the What Do They Know website submitted by Joel Benjamin. It relates to the advise provided to Barnet by financial advisors regarding the investments in the Icelandic banks. As we all know Barnet took a bath for £27 million and although they have recovered some money there is still money that may take years to return to Barnet's coffers.

Today I read a blog by Joel Benjamin, here, the person who asked this question. The blog links the advice provided to Barnet by a company called Butlers who were subsequently bought out by a Capita subsidiary called Sector. Suddenly the various blocks begin to drop into place and it really does start to raise enormously serious questions about the role of Capita and the issue of conflicts of of interest in the finances of Barnet. Readers may also remember that Capita insisted that the conflict of interest clause in their One Barnet contract was redacted. They stated:

 "This schedule was developed by Capita to address a contract consideration and reflects a detailed approach within Capita to manage conflict of interest considerations.  This forms part of the Capita business systems and therefore was provided in confidence as part of the evaluation process, and should not therefore be disclosed." 

I would like to thank  Joel Benjamin for bringing this matter  to all our attention but I am seriously worried that we will never hear anything . Democracy in Barnet has been outsourced and we are all the poorer for it.