§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in the case of the flotation of British Telecom shares, how many applicants for shares returned shares which they had been allocated because the applications had been made in false names; how many shares were involved; who were the applicants; and what action was taken against them.
§ Mr. Geoffrey PattieNone. However, a number of cases of multiple applications involving false names have been investigated and successful prosecutions mounted. In one of these cases the profit from the shares was voluntarily surrendered; in another the Government recovered the shares when the individual concerned failed to pay the second instalment. An institution also of its own volition returned shares in respect of a number of applications which it had made on behalf of individual overseas clients because the institution itself considered that errors had been made in submitting the applications.