§ 12. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the most recent annual return and accounts of Johnson Matthey Bankers Limited were received at Companies House.
§ Mr. HowardAccounts for the period ending 30 June 1985 were delivered to the registrar on 20 December 1985, and an annual return for 1985 was delivered on 31 December 1985.
§ Mr. DalyellFollowing the experience of the Johnson Matthey affair, what have Trade Ministers learnt about the operational efficiency of the supervisory authority?
§ Mr. HowardMy right hon. Friend the Chancellor has announced a review of banking supervision, which it is hoped will remedy the deficiencies that were revealed by the events at Johnson Matthey.
§ Mr. SkinnerIs the Minister happy about the developments that are taking place in the Johnson Matthey business that relate to the accounts? What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the accounts are in a much healthier state, by dealing with people such as Mr. Sipra, who is in India and who owes Johnson Matthey about £70 million? Will he be brought back to this country so that he can repay some of that money? What steps are the Government taking? If they took steps to bring Mr. Sipra and others back to Britain, they might recover some of the money.
§ Mr. HowardThe House will be aware that the Johnson Matthey matters are under investigation by the police. The fraud investigation group has been established. As for compliance with the law on the submission of accounts, there has been a substantial improvement over the position in recent years.