Lloyds faces fresh police probe over fraud claims
Lloyds Bank is reportedly facing a fresh police investigation over allegations of fraud against small business.
The Sunday Telegraph first reported that Avon and Somerset Police are investigating allegations made against the bank by property investor Kashif Shabir.
Shabir lost his business after Lloyds foreclosed on his loans and appointed a receiver to sell his assets in 2009.
Lloyds has dismissed claims of misconduct at its unit in Bristol made by Shabir and others over a decade, who claim the bank had their businesses revalued downwards, forced into receivership and then sold.
Lloyds reportedly believes it had no alternative but to repossess Shabir’s property after he failed to make repayments and that the revaluation reflected the decline of the property market.
In a letter to Welsh Assembly member Peter Black in 2014 seen by The Sunday Telegraph, then business secretary Sir Vince Cable, said he had met Horta-Osorio and raised Shabir’s case.
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Cable wrote: “[Horta-Osrio] assured me that he had looked into the matter personally. He said the complaints had been investigated independently at a senior level within the bank.”
Sajid Javid also reportedly wrote to the Lloyds boss in 2014 asking him to investigate Shabir’s concerns.
A spokesman for Lloyds said that the allegations have been reviewed and have “been found to be completely baseless.”
“Concerns in relation to a Bristol unit have been raised by third parties in the past. In each instance these concerns have been thoroughly investigated and we have not found any evidence to support them.”
“Avon and Somerset Police has also reviewed a number of these allegations, with the outcomes of the investigations checked by Thames Valley Police. Of those customer allegations, one is still subject to an investigation, which is yet to conclude, but the others have all been found not to require further action.”
Avon and Somerset Police were contacted for comment.