BANKRUPT BANKER
Billionaire property magnate Robert Tchenguiz has threatened to sue fraud investigators for arresting him as part of their major inquiry into a failed Icelandic bank.
Monday 14 March 2011
Mr Tchenguiz accused the Serious Fraud Office of ignoring his offers to co-operate before he and his brother Vincent Tchenguiz were questioned last week while police swooped on their multimillion-pound London headquarters.
Investigations into the collapse of Kaupthing, one of three Icelandic banks that failed at the height of the credit crunch in October 2008, became a publicity stunt for the under-threat SFO, he said.
"I believe that the disproportionate and aggressive conduct of the SFO was designed to generate maximum publicity for its own ends, given its uncertain future," Mr Tchenguiz said in a statement.
The Government said in January that the SFO could be merged with the new FBI-style National Crime Agency as part of reforms for tackling white-collar crime.
Mr Tchenguiz, who once dated model Caprice, added: "The SFO issued a press release before I had even had the opportunity to talk to my solicitor.
"I believe that my arrest was wrongful and I have therefore instructed my solicitor to investigate urgently whether it was, and whether the searches were legal."
The brothers were among seven men arrested in the city as 135 officers took part in a major investigation which saw two other suspects simultaneously questioned in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
Meanwhile, debt-laden property management company Peverel has gone into administration in a further blow to the empire of the brothers.
The holding companies behind Peverel - the UK's largest property management firm owned by Vincent Tchenguiz - went bust after reportedly failing to meet demands to repay debts of around £125 million.
